Paul Harvey
American broadcaster (1918-2009)
Burt Rutan
American aerospace engineer
Elbert Leander “Burt” Rutanis a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.
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About the Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander “Burt” Rutanis a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. He also designed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which in 2006 set the world record for the fastestand longestnonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan’s sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period.
With his VariEze and Long-EZ designs, which first flew in 1975 and 1979 respectively, Rutan is responsible for helping popularize both the canard configuration and the use of moldless composite construction in the homebuilt aircraft industry, the latter a technique that was adopted in several production and commercial aircraft in the following decades. He is the founder or co-founder of multiple aerospace companies, including the Rutan Aircraft Factory, Scaled Composites, Mojave Aerospace Ventures, and The Spaceship Company.
Rutan has designed 46 aircraft throughout his career, been included in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list for the year 2004, been the co-recipient of both the Collier and National Air and Space Museum trophies on two occasions (each for his accomplishments with Voyager in 1986 and SpaceShipOne in 2004), received six honorary doctoral degrees, and has won over 100 different awards for aerospace design and development. In 1995, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Rutan has five aircraft on display in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum: the VariEze, Quickie, Voyager, SpaceShipOne, and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. He is the younger brother of the late test pilot and United States Air Force fighter pilot Dick Rutan, who piloted many of Burt’s earlier original designs on class record-breaking flights.
5 Quotes by Burt Rutan
- 1.
In 12 or 15 years, there will be routine, affordable space tourism not just in the U.S. but in a lot of countries.
Burt RutanAmerican aerospace engineer
- 2.
We’ll go back to the moon by not learning anything new.
Burt RutanAmerican aerospace engineer
- 3.
Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding.
Burt RutanAmerican aerospace engineer
- 4.
Our goal is to show that you can develop a robust, safe manned space program and do it at an extremely low cost.
Burt RutanAmerican aerospace engineer
- 5.
We need affordable space travel to inspire our youth, to let them know that they can experience their dreams, can set significant goals and be in a position to lead all of us to future progress in exploration, discovery and fun. Thanks to the X Prize for the inspiration.
Burt RutanAmerican aerospace engineer