FAA presents SpaceShipOne pilot with.......

This is awesome. Imagine if he applies at the airlines the guy who is looking over his resume and see astrounaut commercial rating.lol
 
[ QUOTE ]
Rutan, a pioneer in spacecraft design, said the mission was a success — and NASA officials were also impressed, particularly by what private financing could do.

"We need people like Burt Rutan with innovative ideas that will take us to the moon and Mars" said Michael Lembeck, Requirements Division director of the space agency's Office of Exploration Systems.

[/ QUOTE ]

They should be impressed by the fact it only cost Rutan $20 million or so. Hell, there are commercial jets that cost more than that.
 
Quite true. What this makes me wonder is if before I am put out to pasture if I will be flying space trips. Is it feasable that we could see corporate flying involving space trips in the next twenty to thirty years?
 
Athena -

I highly doubt it. Although this was a great first step, it still doesn't solve the whole "hitching a ride to 45" and rocket problem. As with scramjet technology, we need to find the "missing link" that allows such trips to be routine and independent.

In the next twenty to thirty, I see business jets capitalizing on higher altitudes (as they are today) to utilize "direct to" capabilities (as they are today).

More than anything, SpaceShipOne shows that highly-motivated and highly-skilled professionals can do amazing things. I think the individiual on the flightline that day holding the "SpaceShipOne, GovernmentZero" sign hit it on the nail.

That being said, I don't mean to knock NASA. Bureacracy is the nature of the beast in big government, and NASA is a shining star in a sea of incompetency (red-tape).

J.
 
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