On Fri, 8 Oct 2004, Patrick Wiggins wrote:
Chuck Hards wrote:
but the claims of NASA "shaking in their boots" are plain old hype and premature by decades.
True, but after watching all of the NASA-TV and Discovery Channel coverage and reading lots on the web I don't remember anyone from the X-Prize foundation or the Scaled Composites team making such claims.
While I haven't heard anything specifically about boot-shaking, Burt is quoted saying something pretty close: ----- As usual, Rutan took the opportunity to make a dig at NASA, which he refers to as "that other space agency." "Quite frankly, I think the big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds, the nay-say people at Houston, they probably ... think we're a bunch of home builders who put a rocket in a Long Easy," he said, referring to one of his recreational aircraft designs. "But if they ... got a look at how this flight was run and how we developed the capabilities of this ship and showed its safety, I think they're looking at each other now and saying, 'We're screwed.'" ----- (snipped from http://spaceflightnow.com/ss1/041004x2launch.html ) While some may be put off by a little hubris, I think Burt's bragging rights are well deserved. :-)
Go, Burt, go!
Indeed! By the way, if anyone missed the program "Black Sky" on the Discovery channel earlier this week, it'll be well worth your time to watch the 2-hour rerun scheduled for Sunday at 5pm. The in-cockpit video footage is riveting, and if you don't already understand the genius of Mr. Rutan, "Black Sky" will remove all doubt. Chris