Space Ship One first powered flight!

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 07:46:47 GMT, wrote:

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 01:33:37 GMT, "James"
wrote:

:
:I would be very surprised if anyone beat Burt and his bunch to the punch.
:When has he not hit a target he set out to?
:
Grizzley
Solitare
Visionair Vantage
V-jet
Proteus
Starship
Ares
Triumph jet
Pond Racer
NGT/T46
Lotus Microlight
CM-144
AD-1 skew wing

Other than those, he's done very well.

Rutan has done what most are afraid of: He's tried and failed. And
then he's picked up, tried again, and failed. IMHO, given that he
does succeed every now and then, he deserves my respect.

Moller, on the other hand...


Jake Brodsky

"Never mind the Turing Test, what about the Turing Graduates?"

On 18 Dec 2003 10:01:35 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

:From:
:
::
:: Can't see any other X-Prize team beating Rutan now
::
::I would be very surprised if anyone beat Burt and his bunch to the punch.
::When has he not hit a target he set out to?
::
:Grizzley
:Solitare
:Visionair Vantage
:V-jet
:Proteus
:Starship
:Ares
:Triumph jet
:Pond Racer
:NGT/T46
:Lotus Microlight
:CM-144
:AD-1 skew wing
:
:Other than those, he's done very well.
:
:If memory serves the X-prize involves flying 3 people into space and landing
:safely then do it again within a week with the same vehicle.
:
:Your examples don't do that.

I was answering the question (included in the quoted section) "When
has he not hit a target he set out to?"

The planes I listed were some, but not all, of Rutan's failures, times
the he did not "hit a target."

For example, in the Solitare he set out to "hit a target" of a self
launched sailplane. It worked, in a way, but it was an awful
sailplane and only a couple were built. The Pond Racer was supposed
to compete with the unlimited racers at Reno. But it was never as
fast as the big iron, and it crashed, killing it's pilot. Again, it
didn't "hit a target."

I didn't think that any of them were attempts at the X prize.

On 18 Dec 2003 03:44:19 GMT, (Harry Burns) wrote:

The "Pond Racer" comes to mind... but my utmost respect to Burt. He truly is
one of the greats, and I dare say, the best that's currently working in the
industry.

My information on the Pond Racer is that the aerodynamic design was
fine, it was to cooling system for the engines that didn't work. I
also understand that Rutan did not have a hand in the cooling system.
I could be wrong but the guy I talked with said that the cooling
system was simply inadaquate for the power being produced.

Corky Scott

wrote in message ...
On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 01:33:37 GMT, "James"
wrote:

:
:"Chris Schmelzer" wrote in message
...
: In article ,
: wrote:
:
: www.space.com is reporting that Spaceship one flew it's first rocket
owered
: flight today.
:
: 68Kft and it broke the sound barrier.
: Minor incident on landing the left side gear colapsed.
: No injuries,minor damage.
:
:
: Good luck to the pioneers of the next century!
:
:
: Very cool--68k feet on a 15 second burn!
:
: Bet they will be doing their full suborbital flight within a couple of
: months..
:
: Can't see any other X-Prize team beating Rutan now
:
:I would be very surprised if anyone beat Burt and his bunch to the punch.
:When has he not hit a target he set out to?
:
Grizzley
Solitare
Visionair Vantage
V-jet
Proteus
Starship
Ares
Triumph jet
Pond Racer
NGT/T46
Lotus Microlight
CM-144
AD-1 skew wing

Other than those, he's done very well.

HAHA, I guess I stand a bit corected...but having said that, what was wrong
with the Proteus? I think it hit the hit the target exactly and the Pond
Racer had a cooling system malfunction....

I guess if we are going ot be honest with ourselves, he has done more to
advance private aviation than any other single person in the past twenty
years...looking at the thing she has achieved.

Along with triumphs, there will be failures, but the tradgic are the ones
that are never brought to fruition by those who dream but never do.


James Taylor
www.AICompany.com

On 18 Dec 2003 03:14 AM, RR Urban posted the following:

Convince the wife of what?

About the name.....
or about having a kid?

A baby girl named Burt?
Hmmmmm. g

I mentioned the name to her and was told in no uncertain terms to forget
it... As for the other, all of that convincing has been directed from
her, not to. Not that I am so opposed to the idea, I'm just not ready
to give up my selfishness yet. 8^)

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

: Can't see any other X-Prize team beating Rutan now
:
:I would be very surprised if anyone beat Burt and his bunch to the
unch. When has he not hit a target he set out to?
Grizzley
Solitare
Visionair Vantage
V-jet
Proteus
Starship
Ares
Triumph jet
Pond Racer
NGT/T46
Lotus Microlight
CM-144
AD-1 skew wing

Other than those, he's done very well.

HAHA, I guess I stand a bit corected...but having said that, what was
wrong with the Proteus? I think it hit the hit the target exactly and
the Pond Racer had a cooling system malfunction....

I guess if we are going ot be honest with ourselves, he has done more
to advance private aviation than any other single person in the past
twenty years...looking at the thing she has achieved.

Along with triumphs, there will be failures, but the tradgic are the
ones that are never brought to fruition by those who dream but never
do.

Besides which, the purpose of an experiment is to find out whether or
not something works. The fact that something didn't work as expected is
a disappointment but it doesn't mean that the experiment wasn't
successful. If you shoot for small targets at extremely long range, a
few misses are to be expected.

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

From:
Date: 12/18/2003 8:57 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

On 18 Dec 2003 10:01:35 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

:From:
:
::
:: Can't see any other X-Prize team beating Rutan now
::
::I would be very surprised if anyone beat Burt and his bunch to the punch.
::When has he not hit a target he set out to?
::
:Grizzley
:Solitare
:Visionair Vantage
:V-jet
:Proteus
:Starship
:Ares
:Triumph jet
:Pond Racer
:NGT/T46
:Lotus Microlight
:CM-144
:AD-1 skew wing
:
:Other than those, he's done very well.
:
:If memory serves the X-prize involves flying 3 people into space and landing
:safely then do it again within a week with the same vehicle.
:
:Your examples don't do that.

I was answering the question (included in the quoted section) "When
has he not hit a target he set out to?"


I stand corrected and apologize.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

wrote:

:When has he not hit a target he set out to?

:
Grizzley
Solitare
Visionair Vantage
V-jet
Proteus
Starship
Ares
Triumph jet
Pond Racer
NGT/T46
Lotus Microlight
CM-144
AD-1 skew wing

Other than those, he's done very well.

Silly, laughably silly. In point of fact, Burt did "very well" on
many of the projects you listed. Your suggestion that these projects
were failures is incorrect in several respects. Some of the listed
projects fully hit their mark. In that respect, your list is
erroneous. Of the listed projects that didn't fully hit their mark,
most were quite successful in many respects. Burt is a giant in
aviation. You are nothing. Don't pretend otherwise.

wrote:

The planes I listed were some, but not all, of Rutan's failures, times
the he did not "hit a target."

How laughable. You are not qualified to characterize Burt Rutan's
projects as successes or failures. Burt does not consider most of the
projects on your silly "failure" list to be failures at all. Burt is
a giant in aviation. You are nothing. Don't pretend otherwise by
presuming to cast judgement on his accomplishments.

As Theodore Roosevelt correctly noted,

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the
strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face
is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs
and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause.

Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement;
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid
souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

DO writes:

As Theodore Roosevelt correctly noted,

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the
strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better.

Teddy was wrong, and so is DO. For instance, I am not a politician,
have never run for any elective office, but I (and millions of others)
correctly judged California's now former governor Grey Davis to be
incompetent and we got rid of him. Good call and job well done. Many
other examples are available: the movie or art critic (do they have to
be active film makers or painters to judge?), the restaurant critic
(do they have to own and operate a restaraunt before passing judgement
on the service, ambience, and food?), etc.

The original poster correctly responded to the rhetorical question,
"when has Rutan failed?" But answering that question doesn't
necessarily imply disrespect. My guess is that Rutan, and probably
the original poster, would readily acknowledge that failure is a
necessary part of becoming great. This, DO does not seem to
understand; he confuses hero worship and perceived perfection with
greatness.