I doubt anyone’s reading this yet, but this is actually pretty big news. Tonight, I’m going to bed early. Well, yes, that’s big news, too. But there’s a reason to my madness. And mad it is to get up at 1:00 a.m., yank the kids out of bed and make a middle-of the night trip to…. Mojave! Of course, where else would we escape to in the wee hours of the morning?
But tomorrow will be no ordinary day in the desert. Tomorrow, we hope to witness the first ever privately funded manned space flight. Burt Rutan has designed a ship, funded by Paul Allen (Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder), that can take three people to an altitude of 62 miles, the edge of space. Tomorrow’s launch will carry just one, but if successful, the plan is to launch 3 people into space twice within two weeks in order to claim the $10 Million X-prize. Read all about the project at: http://scaled.com
Joining us on our nocturnal journey will be my parents, our kids (of course), and several other members of our bible study group. We also plan to meet up with some other friends from the Bay Area once we arrive in Mojave.
This is of particular interest to me, not just because of my interest in aviation, but, more specifically, because of my interest in Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites. If “once upon a time” doesn’t interest you, then you’re probably done reading this entry. If you want to hear the history, read on…
When I was a kid my grandparents (on my dad’s side) lived in Southern California. When we drove down to visit, we would commonly go through Mojave (and past Edwards Air Force Base) on our way. I have many fond memories of those trips. In fact, when I was really young, my grandparents actually owned a motel in Mojave (I only really have one or two memories of that).
I remember poking around the Mojave airport, and taking a tour of the museum at Edwards, and seeing (among other things) the Space Shuttle flying on the 747 around the desert. But of all the memories, the ones that stick out most are the trips to Scaled Composites during the Voyager program. Here’s a good short piece about the Voyager:
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi218.htm
We regularly toured while they were building the Voyager. We bought hats and took pictures. When the historic flight came, we went down to Edwards Air Force Base to watch it land. Not only was that the *first* non-stop non-refueled flight around the world, it remains, almost 20 years later, the *only*. Rutan was way ahead of his time.
Then, about a half-dozen years ago, I had a unique opportunity to meet Burt. An airplane was being developed in the last 90’s called the Visionare Vantage. It was a single engine business jet. The company has since gone out of business, but they contracted with Scaled Composites to build their proof-of-concept airplane. My wife’s then-boss had a deposit on a Vantage. We were taking a trip out to California together and, due to a bizarre string of circumstances, we wound up getting an invitation to have lunch at Scaled with Burt and some of the test pilots.
Needless to say, I rather enjoyed the experience. Two things stick out to me about it. First, I learned firsthand that Burt Rutan is a unique, one-of-a-kind, amazing genius. He doesn’t just think differently about airplanes, he thinks differently about *everything*. It’s clear from his operation that his way of thinking is both infectious and successful.
Second, while we toured Scaled, we saw lots of interesting projects. Some of them, he was able to tell us about. Of course, we saw the Vantage. Earlier that week, they unveiled the testbed for the new Williams FJX-2 (now FJ-22) turbofan engine, called the V-JET II (see http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/AST/GAP/wi0697.htm). There were several others. And then there were some molds and jigs and what not for some projects that he couldn’t tell us about. At one point during the tour he said something like “I can’t tell you what that is, but you’ll see it someday”. I’m not certain, but it may well have been a ‘mold’ for part of SpaceShipOne. Whether it was or not, the tour (which, BTW, Scaled *doesn’t* offer to the general public) was a once-in-a-lifetime event that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
I couldn’t leave without an autographed picture of Voyager for my dad. Burt said it had been a while since he had Voyager requests, but he went and found one for me… 😉
Needless to say, I go to bed with great anticipation of what we hope to witness tomorrow. I’m glad my kids will get to see it, and I pray for a safe and successful flight. More news tomorrow! 😉
V-