Burt Rutan: On The Edge Of Space | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Wed, Sep 29, 2004

Burt Rutan: On The Edge Of Space

Rutan And Allen To Make First X-Prize Attempt Wednesday

When you ask Burt Rutan why he wants to go into space, you get a short history lesson on the shortcomings of NASA.

Rutan's SpaceShipOne is set to make the first of two X-Prize attempts Wednesday, flying to an altitude of 100 km (62 miles) twice in two weeks. It's a journey Rutan thinks should have happened long ago.

"By 1973, we had a space station, the Skylab, and we had multiple probes going up to planets. So, all this wonderful stuff happened in 10 to 15 years," he told the BBC. "About that time, there should have been enormous initiatives to make it affordable for people to fly in space, not just a handful of trained NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. If you asked NASA in those days how long will it be until it is affordable so that I can fly, the answer would be, 'we're working on it and in 30 years there will be affordability.'"

Now, 31 years later, space has been largely restricted to that same elite group of astronauts and cosmonauts -- and China's first "taikonaut." But neither Burt nor the rest of us has yet to make it there. And these days, when you ask NASA how long it will take for space flight to become affordable to the average human, you get an eerily familiar answer: about 30 years.

"If it is 30 years, I will 90 and will a guy who is 90 get to fly?" he told the BBC.

For most of us, that would be the end of the discussion, but this is Rutan. "The first choice was to give up, and admit that I would never go into space, never see that black sky. The other choice I had was to do something about it," he said. Wednesday, his company will take another step toward that goal.

(ANN has a contingent of reporters at Mojave for Wednesday's SpaceShipOne launch. Stay tuned for live updates beginning Wednesday morning -- ed.)

FMI: www.scaled.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC