Rocket Man
 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0211/p15s01-stss.html
Rocket Man

Aviation legend and convention-buster Burt Rutan leads the charge among civilians out to claim the point position on manned spaceflight. Will such barnstormers of space supplant NASA?

By Bruce V. Bigelow | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

The high desert 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles was once the bottom of an ancient sea. Today highways run arrow-straight through the desolate terrain, past crooked Joshua trees that stand like sentinels. At an airport near the old mining town of Mojave, rows of mothballed jetliners bake in the desiccating heat.
In vivid contrast, the Mojave Airport also offers a window on the future. Here sit the Civilian Flight Test Center and some of the most advanced aircraft in the world. For more than 60 years, the real attraction of this place .........