Why do you ask?

I'm in the middle of helping figure out lunar/Mars transportation architectures for a client in response to NASA's Broad Area Announcement, and have little time to post. Fortunately Andrew's picking up some of the slack, and Clark Lindsey has an amazing number of interesting links this week (check out yesterday's edition as well as today's).

Also, Jay Manifold has been collecting media reactions here and here. As Andrew reports via Pat Bahn, the "giggle factor" is dissipating rapidly, if not gone completely.

Things are definitely heating up.

[Update at 9:25 PM PDT]

Here's another non-giggling piece from Newsweek.

Rand,
It's so cool hearing/reading the really great things happening to/with you now.
If it were me, I'd be feeling I'd won an intellectual and/or career lottery.
Mike

Thanks for the links. The giggle factor is gone forever. The only negative reaction I'm seeing is of the it's-a-waste-of-money-when-we've-got-all-these-awful-problems type, and the people it's coming from are 1) obviously out of their depth, and 2) none of them "opinion leaders." This thing is looking like a grand slam in the PR department. Indeed, the predominant editorial impression seems to be that NASA just got lapped and is a bit of a dinosaur. This shift in perception may be Rutan's greatest accomplishment.

Also, searches here and here on SpaceShipOne, Rutan, and X Prize find ... nothing. Dinosaurs?

The Newsweek author squandered his credibility with his inane descriptions: "...thrusts it into the planet's atmosphere..." and "the tiny glinting speck of the orbiting international space station passed overhead, close to the horizon."

How's that again?

I was pleasantly surprised by the favorable coverage given by the Christian radio stations in our area(upstate NY). Our minister moonlights as a contractor and is currently renovating the other side of our duplex, and we listened to their reports throughout the morning. No negative reporting, and obvious elation from the announcer when it was reported that the capsule had landed safely. It was a nice contrast to the mainstream radio stations, who ignored it in favor of puff pieces on Fahrenheit 911.

Simon, did you used to work on the Minuetman program?