"...when the government's not involved."

Alan Boyle has been attempting to do some investigative reporting on his home-town rocket company, Blue Origin. It's certainly been the hardest of the upstarts to get much info on, but it's a tantalizing story. My inner editor tells me that he needs to end it with an adverb, though. ;-)

It is amazing isn't it.... it only took Burt Rutan 40 years to duplicate what NASA did in 1961!

Sorry, couln't resist!

Apparently you couldn't, but it seems only fair to compare with the time from funding...

I should add that NASA actually could do things faster back then, before McNamara and others "reformed" R&D procurement.

You have got to be kidding me. They moved some earth around and laid some fiber optic cable and are now claiming they move faster than government? They don't even have a rocket folks! I've done more rocketry with Estes rockets than these guys have. Give me a freaking break.

They moved some earth around and laid some fiber optic cable and are now claiming they move faster than government?

Well, we don't know how long it would have taken the government to do that.

Rand is right: The last word in the article should be an adverb. I also would say that 'transition' is not a verb. Otherwise, the article tells me that not much is going on. Perhaps it's a secret government operation.

"Apparently you couldn't, but it seems only fair to compare with the time from funding..."

No, apparently you couldn't comprehend what was actually said, the quote wasn't "It's amazing how cheap you can..."

I'm perfectly fine with Rutan (and whoever follows) saying it is amazing how cheaply suborbital flight (and whatever follows) can be done when the government is not involved, but it is a bit foolish for them to claim they're faster when government did decades ago what they're trying to do now.

I'm perfectly fine with Rutan (and whoever follows) saying it is amazing how cheaply suborbital flight (and whatever follows) can be done when the government is not involved, but it is a bit foolish for them to claim they're faster when government did decades ago what they're trying to do now.

My point has nothing to do with the amount of funding required.

The government did it in a certain amount of time after being provided with funding. So did Burt.

The difference in time when the government did it, and when Burt did it, have to do with when each activity was funded, not how long it took either group to do it upon funding.

By your logic, the Egyptians built pyramids really fast, because they did it thousands of years ago.

Wow, so many grammarians! As far as the adverb goes, I tried to echo Simpson's comment, and didn't want to put quotes around it because I felt it'd be beating people over the head with it. But I guess I'll beat away. ;-)

I hope I have a little leeway at least to use "transition" as a verb, especially when talking about something so bureaucratic as an office move. (If I were speaking poetically about the beautiful spring day here in Seattle, I might not take that liberty.)

As far as how fast or how slow things are moving with Blue Origin here, I guess the thing that interests me is how much building is going on without the hoopla. There has been 10 times more hoopla over Virgin Galactic's New Mexico space facilities, and those facilities aren't due to be completed until 2009-2010 or so. I guess that's what I mean ... that Blue Origin so far has been able to do its business in stealth mode, with the potential for a fairly rapid phase transition.

As to how significant all this is ... it's not earthshaking news, just a blog item. But it's interesting to me how difficult it is to get information about Blue Origin from the official channels. (I didn't write about how I was passed along through sources at four companies, only to arrive back in Bruce Hicks' voicemail.)

NASA formed in 1958, Al Shepard sub orbital in 1961.

Burt Rutan: "Our concept design work began in 1996 and some preliminary development began in 1999. Our full development program began in secrecy in April 2001."

First sub orbital spaceflight of SpaceShipOne June 2004.

It also strikes me that Jeff Bezos has probably spent more money on Blue Origin than Paul Allen spent on SpaceShipOne, including an estimated $21 million on the Kent facility alone ($13 million for the property, $8 million for the renovation). That doesn't include five years of operation in Seattle and the extensive construction work being done in West Texas.

"NASA formed in 1958, Al Shepard sub orbital in 1961.

Burt Rutan: "Our concept design work began in 1996 and some preliminary development began in 1999. Our full development program began in secrecy in April 2001."

First sub orbital spaceflight of SpaceShipOne June 2004.
"

And how much work was done prior to 1958 by the Army and Air Force on Redstone, Atlas and man in space concepts in general?

"And how much work was done prior to 1958 by the Army and Air Force on Redstone, Atlas and man in space concepts in general? "

I knew that comment was coming. As if Rutan invented, from scratch, every technology used in SpaceShipOne.

Rutan certainly didn't work in a vacuum, he benefited from all he had done prior with airplanes as well as prior work others (including NASA) had done with rocket engines.

Rutan and Branson built their suborbital craft using private funding, with no government safety nets, and no one to save them if they failed. Rutan did it with a small team of engineers. I wouldn't belittle the accomplishment.

I personally like full scale launch vehicles better, but it still doesn't detract from what he was able to build without government assitance (and without governmnet hinderance).

Alan, have you come across any more info about the uav they tested at Grant County International Airport?
The FAA AST business plan mentions they plan to release the draft EA for the Blue Origin spaceport by 7/31/06. This EA should give a lot more information about their spaceport facility.

"It's Amazing How Fast You Can Move... ...when the government's not involved."

Well, until they actually DO anything, why does it matter how "fast" they are moving? They could run quickly right into a brick wall. The proof is in the results, not the libertarian bragging about how great they are because they're non-government.

"I wouldn't belittle the accomplishment."

Oh I don't, I praise the accomplishment for what it was and that is in and of itself enough; developing the hardware for a privately funded spaceflight is a great accomplishment. But this talk as if Rutan were the coming of the private spaceflight messiah.... it's a bit much IMHO. Burt himself has gotten entirely too cocky with his “Nay Say” pronunciation of NASA, that may come back to bite him one day.

Branson's definitely a media darling. What Bezos needs is a multi-billion dollar corporation so that more press would help him.

Rats--that's not it.