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Burt Rutan, SpaceShip One, Scaled Composites
Breakthroughs: The Product of Innovators
Summary from The Front End of Innovation Conference, May 2006.
Burt Rutan has a young imagination, which may be why much of his presentation focused on the importance of how we nurture imagination in kids today. Rutan headed the team which created the winning entry for the X Prize, a $10 million check for the first group that could put a privately funded ship into space. SpaceShipOne, the innovative design, was funded by Paul Allen. Rutan and Allen shared the belief that the accomplishment would inspire new interest in engineering. The craft was added to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s “Milestones Gallery” of notable aircraft in March of 2005. It was Rutan’s 5th design to be added to the collection. That, in itself, is a milestone.
At the dedication, Rutan offered a list of the most influential people in aviation. He noted that most of the people on his list were inspired as kids by the accomplishments of aviators like Lindbergh.
Many of the accomplishments of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo teams were the work of those same people. He identified a series of innovations like 7 successful launch systems developed in 5 years. Apollo 8, the first mission to go to the moon, was the first launch of a Saturn 5 booster. High political pressure, national pride and competitive spirit fueled these significant accomplishments.
Looking ahead, he sees higher speed sub orbital travel, but these innovations will not come from NASA. The private sector will be the source of the next great accomplishments.
Retuning to his theme of inspiration at a young age as the way to develop top design and engineering talent, he warned that kids need more challenges. Prefab kits and packaged experiences require no involvement or creativity from kids. That’s a flaw in the system that needs improvement. Playfulness is a valuable trait for innovators. He noted computer games like the ones available for the early Apple computers as one reason desktop computing reached rapid acceptance.
While he sees space flight as too dangerous for the general public, it’s clear that his appetite for speed, new heights, new challenges and new firsts is still unfulfilled. The leader of a team that has produced of 40 different designs, Rutan is still a kid at heart with accomplishments that dwarf all other designers in his industry.
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Chas Martin
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