Rutan Ready to Realise Vision

[zavvy]

<b>Rutan Ready to Realise Vision</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />One might think that a man who dreams of opening up space to the holidaymaking public would have had his imagination fired as a boy by science fiction novels. <br /><br />But Burt Rutan, 61, has only ever read one sci-fi book: Carl Sagan's Contact. <br /><br />A child of the mid-50s, his strongest memory was Wernher von Braun's collaboration with Walt Disney. <br /><br />The German physicist drove most of the US space programme's achievements until his death in 1977, and made three popular space films for Disney TV between 1955 and 1957. <br /><br />The films, showing man in space, on the Moon, on Mars, and the "unknown", fascinated the boy Rutan. <br /><br />"The most exciting thing I saw as a child was this vision of von Braun going to the back of the Moon," he explains to BBC News Online, as he relaxes in his plus-fours and diamond socks in preparation for a round of golf. <br /><br />"That was the strongest impression of adventure, and I think that was so important because the whole world had that sense of adventure 500 years ago when Magellan made it around the world." <br /><br />Shortcut into space <br /><br />As a child, Rutan was also surrounded by a furious debate about possible man-made canals and intelligent life on Mars. <br /><br />But the message behind the von Braun-Disney films was about selling the idea of space travel to the American public, convincing them of the need for the space race. <br /><br />Similarly, SpaceShipOne and the other X-Prize contenders are trying to sell the idea that space travel can be prised out of the government's grip and offered to thousands of ordinary folk. <br /><br />Because of what the "little guys" are trying to do, Rutan envisages affordable space tourism in 10 to 15 years. <br /><br />Rutan is no "little guy", however. His company, Scaled Composites, is financed by one of the richest men in the wo

 

[radarredux]

Nice story. As Alan Kay said, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."<br /><br />I was surprised to read that Rutan did not read science fiction books.

 

[flynn]

Excellent article. Thanks for posting. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[canadian_joe]

Great article, one of the best I've read on a long time. <br /><br />I was also surprised that he didn't read any sci-fi. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[arobie]

Thank you for the article Zav. I enjoyed reading a recent article about Burt Rutan/Scaled Composites/SSO. I'm sure I'll be seeing alot more of those very soon though. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />