The little guys are trying to make space travel exciting again. The X-Prize flights are scheduled for the end of this month. Two teams are competing: Burt Rutan's now-familiar Space Ship One is gonna go back up on September 29 from Mojave Airport. And Brian Feeney's GoldenPalace.com Space Project (formerly the DiVinci Project, now named for its sponsor), is slated to make its first attempt October 2, in Saskatchewan. (Canadians!) http://web1-xprize.primary.net/launch.php The X-Prize site has details of each project. I like Feeney, the guy who dreams of outer space, and who is crazy enough to build his own rocketship and risk his life in it. His whole team is entirely volunteers and a lot of his material was donated. His budget is miniscule. (Apparently his new sponsor has provided the funds necessary to buy the proven rocket engine that Rutan uses.) Feeney's imaginative vehicle has never been tested or flown. By comparison to Feeney's David, Rutan is Goliath. He's perhaps the world's most famous aircraft designer. He employs experienced test pilots. His systems were proven in a careful incremental test program. And Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen has funded the approximately $20 million budget. Despite Rutan being a Cal Poly SLO alum (I attended it too), my heart's with Canada's Feeney, just a little bit. I'm concerned though. This is a very dangerous thing that he is proposing to do. I just pray that he doesn't get killed. But it will be great if he succeeds, eh?
Yup, Rutan is a semi-local boy. He grew up down the road in lovely Dinuba, California. My wife's cousin used to build model rockets with him. He now works for the Air Force doing similar sorts of things. Tom Nixon
