PRIVATE ENTERPRISE CALLED KEY TO SPACE TRAVEL AIRCRAFT DESIGNER BURT RUTAN SAYS GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE STAGNATED.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LANCASTER - Aircraft and spacecraft designer Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. said Friday he sees an exciting decade of innovation by entrepreneurs in space travel. In the keynote address keynote address n. An opening address, as at a political convention, that outlines the issues to be considered. Also called keynote speech. Noun 1. before the annual Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Business Outlook Conference, Rutan said a time is dawning when entrepreneurs will be leading the charge in spaceflight technology. Government-led space efforts have stagnated, Rutan said. ``We've waited too long for the government to help us fly outside the atmosphere,'' Rutan said. ``I'm so excited over what will happen over this decade.'' Rutan, the designer of SpaceShipOne, the first privately financed and privately developed manned spaceship, was joined at the conferences by pilots Mike Melvill Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill (born November 1941) is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004, thus becoming the first and Brian Binnie William Brian Binnie (born 1953) is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. Binnie was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, where his Scottish father was a professor of physics at Purdue University. . Melvill and Binnie piloted the rocket plane rocket plane n. 1. An aircraft powered by one or more rocket engines. 2. An aircraft designed to carry and launch rockets. on the first private manned spaceflights, including the two flights that won the $10 million X Prize for the first reusable private spacecraft. To illustrate how man's advance into space has stalled, Rutan said that in the first year of man reaching into space there were five manned spaceflights. Last year there were also just five manned spaceflights, and three of those were from his SpaceShipOne. The advancement of private spacecraft will develop the way aircraft developed - natural selection, Rutan said. Designs that don't work or are unsafe will be discarded dis·card v. dis·card·ed, dis·card·ing, dis·cards v.tr. 1. To throw away; reject. 2. a. To throw out (a playing card) from one's hand. b. in favor of better designs. The private space world will also need to strive for a better safety record than government-backed efforts, which have resulted in deaths of about 4 percent of astronauts. ``The problem is safety,'' Rutan said. ``You can't run a 'spaceline' by killing 4 percent of your passengers.'' Rutan said a logical goal would be for future spacelines to have a safety rate better than that of the early airlines. The early airlines of the mid 1930s had a accident rate of one per 31,000 flights. ``Why do it?'' Rutan said of private space flights. ``That's like asking in 1909 or 1910, what's the value of an airplane?'' Rutan said he would like to see affordable travel to the moon in his lifetime. Rutan lamented la·ment·ed adj. Mourned for: our late lamented president. la·ment  ed·ly adv. the closure of stores and restaurants in Mojave, his
home since the 1974, since the opening of a freeway bypass around it.
The first spacelines will operate out of Mojave. ``I want to do something for my little town,'' Rutan said. ``I'm going to make that happen.'' More than 1,000 business and civic leaders attended the conference, which is the annual showcase for the Antelope Valley Board of Trade. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color -- ran in AV edition only) RUTAN |
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