Burt Rutan, the man know for building the Voyager aircraft that flew around the world non-stop in the 1980s, has unveiled a fully-built spacecraft launch system. It could become the first private manned space program. It’s only designed to go up to about 60 miles above the Earth (the shuttle orbits at about 100 miles), but by definition anything over 50 miles is space.
It’s an exciting development because, as we’ve seen, government may be good for throwing money at problems, but it isn’t an innovator. It doesn’t take risks or move swiftly. We’re basically no further along in traveling to space after 40 years of manned spaceflight than we were after the first moon landing. You could say we’re even behind. But now with private industry getting into the act, we may be able to move forward more quickly. It’s a good sign.
