Rutan: curmudgeon or critic?

That’s the topic I address in an article in The Space Review about Burt Rutan’s luncheon speech Thursday at ISDC. As previously noted here, Rutan leveled criticism at everyone from NASA to the FAA to competing spaceflight companies during his talk. There’s been some criticism of his remarks, both in discussions at the conference and in the blogosphere, primarily arguing that his comments are not that constructive. That’s true, although if you examine some of his comments there is a grain of truth: many other people have criticized the current implementation of the Vision for Space Exploration because it looks like a copy of Apollo. Moreover, it is a little odd that, nearly two years after SpaceShipOne first flew to space, there are no other suborbital vehicles in service—not exactly what supporters of the X Prize might have originally envisioned. His comments aren’t likely to have much long-term impact (despite his claim that he plans to flight to change the regulatory structure for suborbital vehicles to more closely resemble aviation), although it has provided some entertainment value, if nothing else.