I don’t always see eye to eye with the editors over at Inc magazine, but I could agree more with their choice for Entrepreneur of the Year for 2004.
“Above 100,000 feet, the air is so thin that wings become useless and aerodynamics stop mattering. Climbing higher takes sheer propulsion – propulsion that air-breathing jet engines can’t deliver in the deepening vacuum. Here is where the sky ends, the horizon curving away to reveal the star-freckled shadow of space. Call it nature’s Maginot Line, separating the world of planes from the world of rockets….(H)istory may pinpoint the breach (of that line) to that moment on October 4 when an orca-shaped, stubby-winged aircraft planted its almost comically spindly legs on a runway in California’s Mojave Desert. In so doing, the privately funded SpaceShipOne had carried humans to space and back again twice within a week, earning its owners the Ansari X-Prize, meant to spur the opening of the age of commercial space travel.
“The man leading the team that took home that prize is, of course, Elbert Leander ‘Burt’ Rutan.”
The best part is he took a craft into space not once, but twice, with a company that falls well within the boundaries of “small business.” He has 125 employees! For achieving this remarkable accomplishment, his company won the $10 million X-prize. But more importantly he will always be remembered at the father of a new industry: commercial space travel.
If you haven’t seen the documentary about this story, it is worth buying.
Previous
Next