ISDC 25 – The Rutan luncheon

Burt Rutan spoke in his usual plain-speaking no-holds barred way. He is doing this because he wants to go to the moon before he dies and he figures that at 62 he has another 40 years or so; when he said this he was able to look down at people who have been there and one that: Buzz Aldrin and Rusty Schweickert seated in the audience just in front of his podium.

He took on NASA, the FAA, rocket racing, you name it. NASA’s Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) got a scathing commentary. He said he talked to Mike Griffin about it and did have to agree with Mike that if he, Burt, were in Mike’s seat, he would have to do the same thing. Burt says he thought about it and decided he would do one thing different. Early in the program he would call a press conference, request all the major aerospace publications be there, walk out to the podium and scream at the top of his lungs “THIS IS CRAZY!” and walk out.

What does Burt have against CEV? Pretty much the same thing everyone else does. It is an aerospace archaeology project, not a way to open the solar system. I am sure Rand Simberg will post more on this subject as he was at another table and also happens to work on CEV.

Burt does not like the regulatory environment. Most of the other companies wanted things to be done the way they are; basically do whatever you want, blow your own arse and customers up, but just do not kill anyone on the ground when your body parts hit. Burt would prefer regular FAA airplane certification.

A large contingent were there from Virgin Galactic; there were also quite a few of the people who have already paid for their flights. It was announced awhile back that Burt is building Space Ship II for the tourist business.

Burt says he is not looking at orbital. He does not have the solutions needed to make it cheap and safe, but is certain someone will come up with those solutions. For this reason he was down on the rocket racing idea because he feels it does not make people push the envelope out there where it needs to be pushed.

He also commented that in two years since he flew, none of the other X-Prize contestants has gone outside the atmosphere. He wishes they would get the finger out because unless lots of people do, he will not make his own goal of getting to the moon during his lifetime.

I do not have time to process photos right now, but I promise that sometime in the ensuing days or weeks I will put a few up. Now it is time to go hunt for my own committee so we can discuss the conference bid for 2008…