| |
| | Techies Race to Suborbital Space |
 | | For decades, all general-aviation airplanes were built to rigorous FAA standards by corporate giants like Cessna and Beechcraft, and they all looked pretty much alike. |
 | | From the Earth-girdling Voyager to Proteus, a high-altitude research airplane that flies at 63,000 feet (as high as a U-2 spy plane), to White Knight and SpaceShipOne - "all are a natural progression, the ultimate expression of the VariEze," says Doug Shane, one of Rutan's four test pilots and director of flight operations at Scaled. |
 | | Which is, of course, only partly true, for neither White Knight nor SpaceShipOne's simulator can fully imitate the moment of truth when one of Rutan's test pilots fires up the rocket for the first time and blasts supersonic in a matter of seconds. |
| www.you.com.au /news/1812.htm (4859 words) |
|