On 18 Dec 2003 10:01:35 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

:From:
:
::
:: Can't see any other X-Prize team beating Rutan now
::
::I would be very surprised if anyone beat Burt and his bunch to the punch.
::When has he not hit a target he set out to?
::
:Grizzley
:Solitare
:Visionair Vantage
:V-jet
:Proteus
:Starship
:Ares
:Triumph jet
:Pond Racer
:NGT/T46
:Lotus Microlight
:CM-144
:AD-1 skew wing
:
:Other than those, he's done very well.
:
:If memory serves the X-prize involves flying 3 people into space and landing
:safely then do it again within a week with the same vehicle.
:
:Your examples don't do that.

I was answering the question (included in the quoted section) "When
has he not hit a target he set out to?"

The planes I listed were some, but not all, of Rutan's failures, times
the he did not "hit a target."

For example, in the Solitare he set out to "hit a target" of a self
launched sailplane. It worked, in a way, but it was an awful
sailplane and only a couple were built. The Pond Racer was supposed
to compete with the unlimited racers at Reno. But it was never as
fast as the big iron, and it crashed, killing it's pilot. Again, it
didn't "hit a target."

I didn't think that any of them were attempts at the X prize.