Burt Rutan
Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutanis an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, and the sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 for becoming the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space twice within a two-week period. With his VariEze design, Rutan is responsible for popularizing the canard configuration...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEngineer
Date of Birth17 June 1943
CityEstacada, OR
CountryUnited States of America
Burt Rutan quotes about
There will be a new industry, and we are just now in the beginning. I will predict that in twelve or fifteen years there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people, that fly and see that black sky.
The ship that we're developing in our shop right now in Mojave will have a very large cabin.
I really thought he'd start this program, do the conceptual work, and move on. But he's like a kid in a candy store. He's having more fun than he ever has.
At first, it will be real rich people, hundreds of them flying into suborbital space, ... But what will happen is you'll run out of real rich people real quickly.
I'm not at all embarrassed that we're opening up a new industry that will likely be a multi-billion dollar industry that's focused only on fun, ... long lasting and significant for our nation.
If you don't have a consensus that it's nonsense, you don't have a breakthrough.
I think within the next two to three years there will be tickets available for sub-orbital flights,
There will be a new industry. And we are just now in a beginning. I will predict that in 12 or 15 years, there will be tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people that fly, and see that black sky.
Just like when early airplanes were flying in 1910, we didn't know what the benefits are, but we were doing it because it was fun.
Breakthroughs are what define our species. They come about because we are threatened.
As opposed to the first 44 years of manned spaceflight, ... the difference is people are going to know that it is for them.
Mankind does need to move away from where we are to explore somewhere else.
A NASA-funded study estimates that if the price of a ticket to space approached $100,000, close to a million people would buy one. That's a $100 billion industry. Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen gave me $20 million in startup funding to go after that market.
I knew that the significance would be known and understood by everyone in 10 years. I'm extremely pleased to see it here this early.