"Gene Seibel" wrote in message
oups.com...
Steve couldn't have done it without Burt Rutan. However, Steve is a
very talented individual:

Steve Fossett is among the world's greatest adventurers - and holds
current official World Records in 5 sports.

There are adventures that change the way we look at the world-- Think
Columbus, Drake, Magellan, and Hudson. Lindbergh is in a similar class- his
flight catalyzed a general awareness that "flying machines" were ready to
become commercially-viable transportation and book-ended the era of
barnstorming.

Fossett's accomplishments are technically impressive, but to my mind they do
not advance the state of the art in all that profound a way. Yes, we are
learning the wring a few more percent of efficiency out of an airfoil and
that sort of thing, but that isn't going to fundamentally change the way
aviation works. By contrast, Space Ship One may (or may not) mark the
beginning of a decade or two that sees private manned spaceflight moving
forward the way aviation did in the 30s.

I'll give Fossett respect for the fact that unlike say a lot of those guys
who finance Americas' Cup boats that are sailed almost entirely by
professionals, he actually does the driving. Sure, the hard work was done by
Burt Rutan, but if they really did come up 2600# short of fuel, it wouldn't
have been Burt's butt bobbing in the Pacific.

-cwk.