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http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/309634-1
Key points:
1) In 2004, there were as many manned space flights as the 4 years following 1961. 3 were by Rutan in the private sector
2) 5 years after Apollo 11, the US led the world in doctorates of science and/or engineering. Today the US is 37th. Inspiration is what leads people to commit to careers. (what are people inspired by now?)
3) 1908: there were less than 12 pilots in the world. 4 years later, there were airplanes being built in 39 countries; France alone was building 500 airplanes a year.
4) Rutan's list of people who inspired him: von Braun, Hughes, Northrop, Korolev, Heinemenn, Lippisch, Lear, Lindbergh, Johnson - every one was between the ages of 4 to 14 during the 1908 to 1912 airplane revolution.
5) SpaceShipOne stopped flying because the Smithsonian defined it as a historical artefact - it is displayed beside the Spirit of St. Louis and the first plane to break the sound barrier.
6) Innovation is inspired by the courage to take risks, to have fun - not by coldly defined political or commercial goals.
7) The Space Shuttle was supposed to be cheaper and safer - but it is actually the most expensive and least safe way to get into orbit, even compared to throwing booster rockets away.
In the Q & A - Rutan was asked about risk.
His comment: When Kennedy said that the US was going to the moon - everyone in the aviation and space industries said: Yay! We've got jobs for the next 9 years.
However, if you took each one, individually, locked them in a room, and asked them if it could be done - a small minority would have said yes. Thus by definition more than half thought the goal was impossible. This is the definition of research. If NASA were in the business of exploring possibilities that more than half of them thought were impossible, then we'd be going to the moons of Saturn rather than not going back to the Moon we went to 50 years ago.
Key points:
1) In 2004, there were as many manned space flights as the 4 years following 1961. 3 were by Rutan in the private sector
2) 5 years after Apollo 11, the US led the world in doctorates of science and/or engineering. Today the US is 37th. Inspiration is what leads people to commit to careers. (what are people inspired by now?)
3) 1908: there were less than 12 pilots in the world. 4 years later, there were airplanes being built in 39 countries; France alone was building 500 airplanes a year.
4) Rutan's list of people who inspired him: von Braun, Hughes, Northrop, Korolev, Heinemenn, Lippisch, Lear, Lindbergh, Johnson - every one was between the ages of 4 to 14 during the 1908 to 1912 airplane revolution.
5) SpaceShipOne stopped flying because the Smithsonian defined it as a historical artefact - it is displayed beside the Spirit of St. Louis and the first plane to break the sound barrier.
6) Innovation is inspired by the courage to take risks, to have fun - not by coldly defined political or commercial goals.
7) The Space Shuttle was supposed to be cheaper and safer - but it is actually the most expensive and least safe way to get into orbit, even compared to throwing booster rockets away.
In the Q & A - Rutan was asked about risk.
His comment: When Kennedy said that the US was going to the moon - everyone in the aviation and space industries said: Yay! We've got jobs for the next 9 years.
However, if you took each one, individually, locked them in a room, and asked them if it could be done - a small minority would have said yes. Thus by definition more than half thought the goal was impossible. This is the definition of research. If NASA were in the business of exploring possibilities that more than half of them thought were impossible, then we'd be going to the moons of Saturn rather than not going back to the Moon we went to 50 years ago.