O/T? Dont think So, Spaceship1, real hotrodders!!!!

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Got to meet Dick Rutan, Burt Rutan, also Jeana Yeager several times..., including the time before their plane (Voyager) flew around the world non-stop...!!!



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........the company I wrk for, Cytec Engineered Materials, had material in the Voyager project. In fact, I was actualy an inspector on the machine the day the material was run. I had a small part in the Voyager's success and THAT is a thrill of a lifetime.
I have been trying to find out if Scaled Composites is a customer???? Rutan is an alien!!!

 

It's outstanding, yes, but most people thought we'd have personal hovercrafts and a Motel 6 on the moon by 1999.

 

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It's outstanding, yes, but most people thought we'd have personal hovercrafts and a Motel 6 on the moon by 1999.

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You mean there isn't... ????

Note to self..., "can't write off moon expenses... !

 

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The sucessful flights of Spaceship One are swell stunts but they are just that---stunts. The vehicle was designed specifically and very narrowly to win the X-Prize and for nothing else.


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As I understand it, the X-prise was a competition to make a vehicle meet a certain goal.
And to make a true competition vehicle do more than meet those goals within the rules of the competition is bad design.
I am sure a smart man like Rutan knows what the limitations of his machine are, and has a desk drawer full of scetches for the next one he wants to build, to meet his next goal...

 

Absolutely. Can't wait to see his next move. If anybody in the private sector can do an orbital vehicle with less than NASA level cash, say a measly billion or two, then it will likely be him.

 

Never heard of this out here......although spending $25million to win $10million....

He coulda given me $15million and I woulda believed him!

 

Out of respect for TECH WEEK, lets let this post die. Thanks guys.