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143-462: Rutan has indicated that ideas about the project began as early as 1994 and the full-time development cycle time to the 2004 accomplishments was about three years. The vehicle first achieved supersonic flight on December 17, 2003, which was also the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers ' historic first powered flight. SpaceShipOne's first official spaceflight, known as flight 15P ,

286-791: A bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ , he traveled often and the Wrights frequently moved – twelve times before finally returning permanently to Dayton in 1884. In elementary school, Orville was given to mischief and was once expelled. In 1878, when the family lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa , their father brought home a toy helicopter for his two younger sons. The device was based on an invention of French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud . Made of paper, bamboo and cork with

429-415: A 2010 Big Think interview, Rutan articulated his motivation for developing suborbital spaceflight technology projects with SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo . In it he said, "we can achieve some breakthroughs", making such flight "orders of magnitude safer and orders of magnitude more affordable. I'm taking this step because I think achieving something that has never existed in manned spaceflight – and that

572-416: A few times, but the parachute effect of the forward elevator allowed Wilbur to make a safe flat landing, instead of a nose-dive. These incidents wedded the Wrights even more strongly to the canard design, which they did not give up until 1910. The glider, however, delivered two major disappointments. It produced only about one-third the lift calculated and sometimes pointed opposite the intended direction of

715-449: A few wing shapes, and the Wrights mistakenly assumed the data would apply to their wings, which had a different shape. The Wrights took a huge step forward and made basic wind tunnel tests on 200 scale-model wings of many shapes and airfoil curves, followed by detailed tests on 38 of them. An important discovery was the benefit of longer narrower wings: in aeronautical terms, wings with a larger aspect ratio (wingspan divided by chord –

858-415: A flying machine could be controlled and balanced with practice. This was a trend, as many other aviation pioneers were also dedicated cyclists and involved in the bicycle business in various ways. From 1900 until their first powered flights in late 1903, the brothers conducted extensive glider tests that also developed their skills as pilots. Their shop mechanic Charles Taylor became an important part of

1001-409: A flying machine, but rather a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces. From the beginning of their aeronautical work, Wilbur and Orville focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to solving "the flying problem". This approach differed significantly from other experimenters of the time who put more emphasis on developing powerful engines. Using

1144-454: A good way for a flying machine to turn – to "bank" or "lean" into the turn just like a bird – and just like a person riding a bicycle, an experience with which they were thoroughly familiar. Equally important, they hoped this method would enable recovery when the wind tilted the machine to one side (lateral balance). They puzzled over how to achieve the same effect with man-made wings and eventually discovered wing-warping when Wilbur idly twisted

1287-405: A greater quantity of air than a single relatively slow propeller and not disturb airflow over the leading edge of the wings. Wilbur made a March 1903 entry in his notebook indicating the prototype propeller was 66% efficient. Modern wind tunnel tests on reproduction 1903 propellers show they were more than 75% efficient under the conditions of the first flights, "a remarkable feat", and actually had

1430-441: A landing in about 20 minutes. White Knight takes longer to descend, and typically lands a few minutes after SpaceShipOne. Data from astronautix.com General characteristics Performance SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures (a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites , Burt Rutan 's aviation company, in their Tier One program), without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made

1573-557: A long inner-tube box at the bicycle shop. Other aeronautical investigators regarded flight as if it were not so different from surface locomotion, except the surface would be elevated. They thought in terms of a ship's rudder for steering, while the flying machine remained essentially level in the air, as did a train or an automobile or a ship at the surface. The idea of deliberately leaning, or rolling, to one side seemed either undesirable or did not enter their thinking. Some of these other investigators, including Langley and Chanute, sought

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1716-494: A nose skid. These are deployed using springs, assisted by gravity. Once deployed, they cannot be retracted inflight. The spacecraft is incapable of independent takeoff from the ground. It requires a launch aircraft to carry it to launch altitude for an air launch . The parts of the craft that experience the greatest heating, such as the leading edges of the wings, have about 6.5 kg (14 lb) of ablative thermal protection material applied. The main ingredient of this material

1859-414: A peak efficiency of 82%. The Wrights wrote to several engine manufacturers, but none could meet their need for a sufficiently light-weight powerplant. They turned to their shop mechanic, Charlie Taylor , who built an engine in just six weeks in close consultation with the brothers. To keep the weight down the engine block was cast from aluminum, a rare practice at the time. The Wright/Taylor engine had

2002-577: A preliminary canard project (model 49), a tandem wing configuration was eventually designed, to be powered by an 18 hp Onan industrial engine. The prototype (Rutan model 54) was built in 1977 and registered as N77Q. After 5 months of testing, Quickie Aircraft marketed the aircraft as the Rutan model 54 Quickie in 1978. Two derivatives of the Quickie were subsequently developed, both expanded to include two seats. Quickie Aircraft had Gary LaGare develop

2145-407: A primitive version of a carburetor , and had no fuel pump . Gasoline was gravity -fed from the fuel tank mounted on a wing strut into a chamber next to the cylinders where it was mixed with air: The fuel-air mixture was then vaporized by heat from the crankcase, forcing it into the cylinders. Burt Rutan Elbert Leander " Burt " Rutan ( / ˈ r uː t ən / ; born June 17, 1943)

2288-477: A range of 2,010 miles (3,230 km), over twice that of the VariEze. The Long-EZ also has a revised wing spar design that is not subject to the 2.5 g positive, 1.5 g negative, maximum load factor limit applied to the VariEze after the discovery of problems with some VariEze wings. Quickie Rutan was approached by Gene Sheehan and Tom Jewett to develop a single-seat personal sport aircraft. Following

2431-410: A rubber band to twirl its rotor, it was about 1 ft (30 cm) long. Wilbur and Orville played with it until it broke, and then built their own. In later years, they pointed to their experience with the toy as the spark of their interest in flying. Both brothers attended high school, but did not receive diplomas. The family's abrupt move in 1884 from Richmond, Indiana , to Dayton , Ohio, where

2574-452: A serial killer. Wilbur lost his front teeth. He had been vigorous and athletic until then, and although his injuries did not appear especially severe, he became withdrawn. He had planned to attend Yale. Instead, he spent the next few years largely housebound. During this time he cared for his mother, who was terminally ill with tuberculosis, read extensively in his father's library and ably assisted his father during times of controversy within

2717-448: A small home-built wind tunnel , the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling them to design more efficient wings and propellers. The brothers gained the mechanical skills essential to their success by working for years in their Dayton, Ohio -based shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery. Their work with bicycles, in particular, influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle such as

2860-535: A stable glide. (Although this is an interesting comparison of behavior, it is not an entirely fair comparison of design concepts: the Shuttle starts reentry at much higher speed than SpaceShipOne, and so has some very different requirements. SpaceShipOne is more similar to the X-15 vehicle.) An early design called for a permanently shuttlecock-like shape, with a ring of feather -like stabilising fins. This would have made

3003-414: A tail was not necessary, and their first two gliders did not have one. According to some Wright biographers, Wilbur probably did all the gliding until 1902, perhaps to exercise his authority as older brother and to protect Orville from harm as he did not want to have to explain to their father, Bishop Wright, if Orville got injured. * (This airfoil caused severe stability problems; the Wrights modified

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3146-483: A thorough report about the 1900–1901 glider experiments and complemented his talk with a lantern slide show of photographs. Wilbur's speech was the first public account of the brothers' experiments. A report was published in the Journal of the society, which was then separately published as an offprint titled Some Aeronautical Experiments in a 300 copy printing. Lilienthal had made "whirling arm" tests on only

3289-502: A three-surface aircraft (canard, main wing, and tail) and first flew in 1988. After serving as Rutan's personal airplane, it was retired. The Catbird is notable for winning the CAFE Challenge aircraft efficiency prize in 1993. Pond Racer The 1991 Pond Racer was an Unlimited Class racing airplane. Concerned about the dwindling numbers of World War II aircraft , with many being consumed by use as Unlimited Class racers at

3432-402: A time with so few materials and at so little expense". In their September 1908 Century Magazine article, the Wrights explained, "The calculations on which all flying machines had been based were unreliable, and ... every experiment was simply groping in the dark ... We cast it all aside and decided to rely entirely upon our own investigations." The 1902 glider wing had a flatter airfoil, with

3575-488: A trove of valuable data never before known and showed that the poor lift of the 1900 and 1901 gliders was entirely due to an incorrect Smeaton value, and that Lilienthal's published data were fairly accurate for the tests he had done. Before the detailed wind tunnel tests, Wilbur traveled to Chicago at Chanute's invitation to give a lecture to the Western Society of Engineers on September 18, 1901. He presented

3718-402: A turn – a problem later known as adverse yaw – when Wilbur used the wing-warping control. On the trip home a deeply dejected Wilbur remarked to Orville that man would not fly in a thousand years. The poor lift of the gliders led the Wrights to question the accuracy of Lilienthal's data, as well as the " Smeaton coefficient" of air pressure, a value which had been in use for over 100 years and

3861-521: A view of the horizon at all stages of flight. The windows are small compared to the gaps between them, but there are sufficiently many for human occupants to patch together a moderately good view. The nose section can be removed, and there is also a hatch below the rear windows on the left side. Crew ingress and egress is possible by either route. The core of the spacecraft avionics is the System Navigation Unit ( SNU ). Together with

4004-670: Is high volume and public access – I think it is important to do that and to do it as soon as possible." He retired from Scaled Composites in April 2011. That same year, he received the Daniel Guggenheim Medal and became recognized as a Living Legend of Aviation , receiving the Bob Hoover Freedom of Flight Award from the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy. In 2012, Rutan spoke on "Innovation and

4147-483: Is a hybrid flying car . Announced in July 2011, the twin-pod vehicle has a wingspan of 31 feet 10 inches; with the wings reconfigured (stowed between the pods), the car has a width of 7 feet 11 inches and fits in a single-car garage. The design has two 450 cc four-cycle engines , one in each pod, which power a pair of generators that in turn power the electric motors used for propulsion. " Lithium-ion batteries in

4290-479: Is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager , which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. He also designed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer , which in 2006 set the world record for

4433-406: Is considerable use of composite materials in the engine design. The oxidizer tank consists of a composite liner with graphite / epoxy over-wrap and titanium interface flanges. The CTN uses a high-temperature composite insulator with a graphite/epoxy structure. Incorporating the solid fuel (and hence the main part of the engine) and the ablative nozzle into this single bonded component minimizes

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4576-446: Is expected to have a driving range of 820 miles. It has a claimed electric-only range of 35 miles." Flight controls are in the right pod, road controls (steering wheel and brakes) in the left. Amsoil Racer The Rutan model 68 Amsoil Racer was a racing aircraft of Quickie configuration, built in 1981. It set several speed records, but crashed at the 1983 Reno Air Races and was unsalvageable. Voyager The Rutan model 76 Voyager

4719-445: Is further steepened in the higher part of the trajectory. The maximum acceleration during ascent was recorded at 1.70G. By the end of the burn the craft is flying upwards at some multiple of the speed of sound, up to about 900 m/s (3,000 ft/s) and Mach 3.5, and it continues to coast upwards unpowered (i.e. ballistically ). If the burn was long enough then it will exceed an altitude of 100 km (62 mi), at which height

4862-813: Is headquartered in Mojave, California , at the Mojave Air & Space Port . That same year, Beechcraft contracted Rutan's Scaled Composites to refine the design and build the prototype Beechcraft Starship . In 1987, Rutan received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . In 1988, he was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum and in 1995,

5005-511: Is married to Tonya Rutan and together they have two children. In a 45-year career, many of Rutan's designs have often been quite dissimilar from their predecessors. The Los Angeles Times said of his designs: "His airplanes and spacecraft take on all types of sleek shapes and sizes, looking more like the work of a sculptor than an engineer. In all, Rutan has come up with 367 individual concepts—of which 45 have flown." VariViggen and VariViggen SP In 1968, he began building his first design,

5148-407: Is not considered dangerous, but in both of these flights led to the achievement of a much lower altitude than expected. The details of the flaw are not public. The spacecraft cabin, designed to hold three humans, is shaped as a short cylinder, diameter 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in), with a pointed forward end. The pilot sits towards the front, and two passengers can be seated behind. The cabin

5291-431: Is not throttleable. Once lit, the burn can be aborted, but the power output cannot otherwise be controlled. The thrust in fact varies, for two reasons. Firstly, as the pressure in the oxidizer tank decreases, the flow rate reduces, reducing thrust. Secondly, in the late stages of a burn the oxidizer tank contains a mixture of liquid and gaseous oxidizer, and the power output of the engine varies greatly depending on whether it

5434-494: Is of primary interest during the boost phase of a flight, and the subsonic mode when gliding. The craft has separate upper and lower rudders, and elevons . These are controlled using aviation -style stick and pedals. In supersonic mode the trim tabs are controlled electrically, whereas the subsonic mode uses mechanical cable-and-rod linkage. The wings of SpaceShipOne can be pneumatically tilted forwards into an aerodynamically stable high- drag "feathered" shape. This removes most of

5577-425: Is pressurized, maintaining a sea level breathable atmosphere. Oxygen is introduced to the cabin from a bottle, and carbon dioxide and water vapor are removed by absorbers. The occupants do not wear spacesuits or breathing masks, because the cabin has been designed to maintain pressure in the face of faults: all windows and seals are doubled. The cabin has sixteen round double-pane windows, positioned to provide

5720-599: Is responsible for helping popularize both the canard configuration and the use of moldless composite construction in the homebuilt aircraft industry, the latter a technique that was adopted in several production and commercial aircraft in the following decades. He is the founder or co-founder of multiple aerospace companies, including the Rutan Aircraft Factory , Scaled Composites , Mojave Aerospace Ventures , and The Spaceship Company . Rutan has designed 46 aircraft throughout his career, been included in

5863-425: Is the only part of the craft, other than the fuel and oxidizer themselves, that must be replaced. The solid fuel is cast with four holes. This has the disadvantage that it is possible for chunks of fuel between the holes to become detached during a burn and obstruct the flow of oxidizer and exhaust. Such situations tend to rapidly self-correct. The oxidizer tank is filled and vented through its forward bulkhead , on

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6006-399: Is then drop-released, and briefly glides unpowered. Rocket ignition may take place immediately, or may be delayed. If the rocket is never lit then SpaceShipOne can glide down to the ground. This is another major abort mode, in addition to being flown deliberately in glide tests. The rocket engine is ignited while the spacecraft is gliding. Once under power, it is raised into a 65° climb, which

6149-475: Is using liquid or gaseous oxidizer at a particular moment. (The liquid, being far denser, allows a greater burn rate.) Both the fuel and oxidizer can be stored without special precautions, and they do not burn when brought together without a significant source of heat. This makes the rocket far safer than conventional liquid or solid rockets. The combustion products are water vapour, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. The engine

6292-564: The Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list for the year 2004, been the co-recipient of both the Collier and National Air and Space Museum trophies on two occasions (each for his accomplishments with Voyager in 1986 and SpaceShipOne in 2004), received six honorary doctoral degrees, and has won over 100 different awards for aerospace design and development. In 1995, he was inducted into

6435-516: The Wright Flyer , Spirit of St. Louis and Bell X-1 . Burt and Dick Rutan, along with Yeager, made headlines for their efforts as the Voyager team and received the 1986 Collier Trophy and Presidential Citizens Medal from President Ronald Reagan . Catbird The Scaled Composites Model 81 Catbird is a five-seat, single-engined pressurized airplane. The airplane was configured as

6578-686: The Flight Director Display ( FDD ), it comprises the Flight Navigation Unit . The unit was developed jointly by Fundamental Technology Systems and Scaled Composites . The SNU is a GPS -based inertial navigation system, which processes spacecraft sensor data and subsystem health data. It downlinks telemetry data by radio to mission control. The FDD displays data from the SNU on a color LCD . It has several distinct display modes for different phases of flight, including

6721-617: The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter. He left to become Director of Development of the BD-5 aircraft for Bede Aircraft in Newton, Kansas , a position he held until 1974. In June 1974, Rutan returned to California to establish the Rutan Aircraft Factory . In this business he designed and developed prototypes for several aircraft, mostly intended for amateur builders. His first design, executed while he

6864-739: The National Aviation Hall of Fame at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio . Rutan was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1989 for leading the engineering, design, construction, and testing of a series of aircraft, including Voyager . In 2004, after SpaceShipOne flew, he was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in

7007-585: The National Aviation Hall of Fame . Rutan has five aircraft on display in the Smithsonian Institution 's National Air and Space Museum : the VariEze, Quickie , Voyager, SpaceShipOne, and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. He is the younger brother of the late test pilot and United States Air Force fighter pilot Dick Rutan , who piloted many of Burt's earlier original designs on class record-breaking flights. Burt Rutan

7150-627: The Q2 , while Viking Aircraft developed the Viking Dragonfly . Solitaire The 1982 Sailplane Homebuilders Association (Now the Experimental Soaring Association) opened a competition for a homebuilt, self-launching sailplane. Rutan designed the model 77 Solitaire for this competition, which it won. The sailplane was canard-configured, with a retractable engine ahead of the cockpit. Grizzly Rutan designed

7293-554: The VariViggen , which first flew in April 1972. It had the rear wing, forward canard , and pusher configuration design elements which became his trademarks. In lieu of wind tunnel testing, Rutan developed aerodynamic parameters for the VariViggen using a model rigged atop his station wagon , and measured the forces while driving on empty roads. The VariViggen was the Rutan model 27. A new set of outer wings, with winglets,

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7436-537: The X-15 than to those of orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle . Accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it to Mach 3. It would also require an elaborate heat shield to safely dissipate that energy during re-entry. SpaceShipOne's official model designation is Scaled Composites Model 316. The Scaled Composites Model 316 , known as SpaceShipOne ,

7579-426: The camber reduced to a ratio of 1-in-24, in contrast to the previous thicker wing. The larger aspect ratio was achieved by increasing the wingspan and shortening the chord. The glider also had a new structural feature: A fixed, rear vertical rudder, which the brothers hoped would eliminate turning problems. However, the 1902 glider encountered trouble in crosswinds and steep banked turns, when it sometimes spiraled into

7722-404: The coefficient of drag replaces the coefficient of lift , computing drag instead of lift. They used this equation to answer the question, "Is there enough power in the engine to produce a thrust adequate to overcome the drag of the total frame ...," in the words of Combs. The Wrights then "... measured the pull in pounds on various parts of their aircraft, including the pull on each of

7865-474: The 1980s NASA issued a contract to Ames Industrial Company of Bohemia, New York to develop a small, low-cost aircraft to investigate Robert T. Jones 's (a NASA researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center ) oblique wing concept. Ames turned to Rutan, who designed a small, fiberglass airframe , powered by two Microturbo TRS-18 jet engines. This was the Rutan model 35, the Ames AD-1 . After completion of

8008-604: The Brethren Church, but also expressed unease over his own lack of ambition. Orville dropped out of high school after his junior year to start a printing business in 1889, having designed and built his own printing press with Wilbur's help. Wilbur joined the print shop, and in March the brothers launched a weekly newspaper, the West Side News . Subsequent issues listed Orville as publisher and Wilbur as editor on

8151-471: The Reno Air Races, Bob Pond contracted Rutan and Scaled to design and build an Unlimited Class racer. After design studies, a twin-engined, conventional configured layout was chosen. The aircraft was powered by two 1,000 hp (750 kW) Electromotive-Nissan VG-30 3-liter GTP piston engines running on methanol . The aircraft was built and tested before delivery to the customer. It appeared at

8294-456: The Smeaton coefficient; Chanute identified up to 50 of them. Wilbur knew that Langley, for example, had used a lower number than the traditional one. Intent on confirming the correct Smeaton value, Wilbur performed his own calculations using measurements collected during kite and free flights of the 1901 glider. His results correctly showed that the coefficient was very close to 0.0033 (similar to

8437-606: The Space Race" to the World Affairs Council, as recorded on C-Span. Flying magazine ranked him at number 18 on their 2013 list, "51 Heroes of Aviation". Rutan was also a recipient of the prestigious Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 2015. In 2021, he received his second eponymous Bob Hoover award with the AOPA 's R.A. "Bob" Hoover Trophy, given to "people in the industry who have made major contributions over

8580-410: The VariEze, and these aircraft went on to set other world records in this class. They were also the first aircraft to fly with NASA-developed winglets . Rutan later revised the VariEze design, providing more volume for fuel and cargo, resulting in the Rutan model 61 Long-EZ , designed to be powered by a Lycoming O-235 , although some have used Lycoming O-320s or Lycoming O-360s . The Long-EZ had

8723-700: The World" and as Inc. magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year". In 2005, he received the NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering from the National Academy of Sciences . In the same year, he was awarded the Robert J. Collier Trophy , which he also obtained in 1986 for his design and development of the Voyager 15. In 2007, Northrop Grumman became the sole owner of Rutan's Scaled Composites. In

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8866-562: The Wright children had middle names. Instead, their father tried hard to give them distinctive first names. Wilbur was named for Willbur Fisk and Orville for Orville Dewey , both clergymen that Milton Wright admired. They were "Will" and "Orv" to their friends and in Dayton, their neighbors knew them simply as "the Bishop's kids", or "the Bishop's boys". Because of their father's position as

9009-430: The air with no previous flying experience. Although agreeing with Lilienthal's idea of practice, the Wrights saw that his method of balance and control by shifting his body weight was inadequate. They were determined to find something better. On the basis of observation, Wilbur concluded that birds changed the angle of the ends of their wings to make their bodies roll right or left. The brothers decided this would also be

9152-491: The atmosphere presents no appreciable resistance, and the craft experiences free fall for a few minutes. While at apogee the wings are reconfigured into high-drag mode. As the craft falls back it achieves high speeds comparable to those achieved on the way up; when it subsequently reenters the atmosphere it decelerates violently, up to 5.75G. At some altitude between 10 km (6.2 mi) and 20 km (12 mi) it reconfigures into low-drag glider mode, and glides down to

9295-428: The atmosphere. It consists of three sets of thrusters: thrusters at each wingtip control roll, at the top and bottom of the nose control pitch, and at the sides of the fuselage control yaw. All thrusters have redundant backups, so comprising twelve thrusters in all. The aerodynamic control surfaces of SpaceShipOne are designed to operate in two distinct flight regimes, subsonic and supersonic. The supersonic flight regime

9438-623: The boost phase, coast , reentry, and gliding. The FDD is particularly important to the pilot during the boost and coast phase in order to "turn the corner" and null rates caused by asymmetric thrust. A mix of commercial and bespoke software is used in the FDD. Tier One uses a hybrid rocket engine supplied by SpaceDev , with solid hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB, or rubber ) fuel and liquid nitrous oxide oxidizer . It generates 88 kN (20,000 lb f ) of thrust, and can burn for about 87 s (1.45 min). The physical layout of

9581-662: The brothers built the powered Wright Flyer , using their preferred material for construction, spruce , a strong and lightweight wood, and Pride of the West muslin for surface coverings. They also designed and carved their own wooden propellers, and had a purpose-built gasoline engine fabricated in their bicycle shop. They thought propeller design would be a simple matter and intended to adapt data from shipbuilding. However, their library research disclosed no established formulae for either marine or air propellers, and they found themselves with no sure starting point. They discussed and argued

9724-455: The brothers favored his strategy: to practice gliding in order to master the art of control before attempting motor-driven flight. The death of British aeronaut Percy Pilcher in another hang gliding crash in October 1899 only reinforced their opinion that a reliable method of pilot control was the key to successful – and safe – flight. At the outset of their experiments they regarded control as

9867-402: The brothers put wing warping to the test by building and flying a biplane kite with a 5-foot (1.5 m) wingspan, and a curved wing with a 1-foot (0.30 m) chord . When the wings were warped, or twisted, the trailing edge that was warped down produced more lift than the opposite wing, causing a rolling motion. The warping was controlled by four lines between kite and crossed sticks held by

10010-420: The camber on-site.) The brothers flew the glider for only a few days in the early autumn of 1900 at Kitty Hawk. In the first tests, probably on October 3, Wilbur was aboard while the glider flew as a kite not far above the ground with men below holding tether ropes. Most of the kite tests were unpiloted, with sandbags or chains and even a local boy as ballast. They tested wing-warping using control ropes from

10153-516: The canard design was the 1996 Boomerang , perhaps one of the unconventional designer's most unconventional aircraft. The aircraft, the Rutan model 202 Boomerang, is an asymmetric twin-engine tractor configuration aircraft with one engine on the fuselage and another mounted on a pod. A November 1996 Popular Mechanics feature article said it "looks more like a trimotor that lost its right boom and engine". BiPod The BiPod , Rutan's latest design in association with his company Scaled Composites,

10296-400: The change in direction – was done with roll control using wing-warping. The principles remained the same when ailerons superseded wing-warping. With their new method, the Wrights achieved true control in turns for the first time on October 9, a major milestone. From September 20 until the last weeks of October, they flew over a thousand flights. The longest duration was up to 26 seconds, and

10439-578: The coast of California. In December 1986, they took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California and flew around the world (westward) in nine days, fulfilling the aircraft's design goals and setting multiple world absolute flight distance records . The Voyager was retired and now hangs in the Milestones of Flight exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) main exhibit hall, with

10582-444: The concept used in the repair of molded European sailplanes. His innovation was the adoption of the method not for repair but to build an aircraft with hotwire wing cores and hand-carved foam for the fuselage box. This method allowed Rutan to build a plane without a mold. In April 1982, Rutan founded Scaled Composites , LLC, which has become one of the world's pre-eminent aircraft design and prototyping facilities. Scaled Composites

10725-517: The course of their careers to key areas within general aviation ." In 2022, the Mojave Air and Space Port was given the name "Rutan Field" in honor of the Rutan brothers' contributions to the airport, its board stating that the Rutans' aviation achievements "have played a key role in the evolution of the aerospace industry and the success of the Mojave Air & Space Port organization." Burt

10868-502: The dramatic glides by Otto Lilienthal in Germany. 1896 brought three important aeronautical events. In May, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley successfully flew an unmanned steam-powered fixed-wing model aircraft. In mid-year, Chicago engineer and aviation authority Octave Chanute brought together several men who tested various types of gliders over the sand dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. In August, Lilienthal

11011-576: The elusive ideal of "inherent stability", believing the pilot of a flying machine would not be able to react quickly enough to wind disturbances to use mechanical controls effectively. The Wright brothers, on the other hand, wanted the pilot to have absolute control. For that reason, their early designs made no concessions toward built-in stability (such as dihedral wings). They deliberately designed their 1903 first powered flyer with anhedral (drooping) wings, which are inherently unstable, but less susceptible to upset by gusty cross winds. On July 27, 1899,

11154-416: The end of each wing, with horizontal stabilizers protruding from the tailbooms. It has gear for horizontal landings. The overall mass of the fully fueled craft is 3,600  kg (7,900 lb), of which 2,700 kg (6,000 lb) is taken by the fully loaded rocket motor. Empty mass of the spacecraft is 1,200 kg (2,600 lb), including the 300 kg (660 lb) empty motor casing. Originally

11297-430: The engine is novel. The oxidizer tank is a primary structural component, and is the only part of the engine that is structurally connected to the spacecraft: the tank is in fact an integral part of the spacecraft fuselage. The tank is a short cylinder of diameter approximately 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in), with domed ends, and is the forwardmost part of the engine. The fuel casing is a narrow cylinder cantilevered to

11440-399: The family had lived during the 1870s, prevented Wilbur from receiving his diploma after finishing four years of high school. The diploma was awarded posthumously to Wilbur on April 16, 1994, which would have been his 127th birthday. In late 1885 or early 1886, while playing an ice-skating game with friends Wilbur was struck in the face by a hockey stick by Oliver Crook Haugh, who later became

11583-546: The fastest (342 mph/551 km/h in 67 hours) and longest (25,766 miles/41,466 km) nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan's sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period. With his VariEze and Long-EZ designs, which first flew in 1975 and 1979 respectively, Rutan

11726-544: The first circle, followed in 1905 by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft , the Wright Flyer III . The brothers' breakthrough invention was their creation of a three-axis control system , which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. Their system of aircraft controls made fixed-wing powered flight possible and remains standard on airplanes of all kinds. Their first U.S. patent did not claim invention of

11869-456: The first person singular became the plural "we" and "our". Author James Tobin asserts, "it is impossible to imagine Orville, bright as he was, supplying the driving force that started their work and kept it going from the back room of a store in Ohio to conferences with capitalists, presidents, and kings. Will did that. He was the leader, from the beginning to the end." Despite Lilienthal's fate,

12012-708: The first privately funded human spaceflight. On October 4, it won the US$ 10 million Ansari X Prize , by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board and with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. Development costs were estimated to be US$ 25 million , funded completely by Paul Allen . Wright Brothers The Wright brothers , Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying

12155-491: The glider banked into a turn, rudder pressure overcame the effect of differential drag and pointed the nose of the aircraft in the direction of the turn, eliminating adverse yaw. In short, the Wrights discovered the true purpose of the movable vertical rudder. Its role was not to change the direction of flight, as a rudder does in sailing, but rather, to aim or align the aircraft correctly during banking turns and when leveling off from turns and wind disturbances. The actual turn –

12298-407: The government meteorologist stationed there. Kitty Hawk, although remote, was closer to Dayton than other places Chanute had suggested, including California and Florida. The spot also gave them privacy from reporters, who had turned the 1896 Chanute experiments at Lake Michigan into something of a circus. Chanute visited them in camp each season from 1901 to 1903 and saw gliding experiments, but not

12441-417: The ground – a phenomenon the brothers called "well digging". According to Combs , "They knew that when the earlier 1901 glider banked, it would begin to slide sideways through the air, and if the side motion was left uncorrected, or took place too quickly, the glider would go into an uncontrolled pivoting motion. Now, with vertical fins added to correct this, the glider again went into a pivoting motion, but in

12584-483: The ground, attached to White Knight in a parasite configuration, and under White Knight's power. The combination of SpaceShipOne and White Knight can take off, land, and fly under jet power to high altitude. A captive carry flight is one where the two craft land together without launching SpaceShipOne; this is one of the main abort modes available. For launch, the combined craft flies to an altitude of around 14 km (8.7 mi), which takes about an hour. SpaceShipOne

12727-480: The ground. The glider was also tested unmanned while suspended from a small homemade tower. Wilbur, but not Orville, made about a dozen free glides on only a single day, October 20. For those tests the brothers trekked four miles (6   km) south to the Kill Devil Hills , a group of sand dunes up to 100 feet (30 m) high (where they made camp in each of the next three years). Although the glider's lift

12870-416: The horizontal wheel. Attached vertically to the wheel were an airfoil and a flat plate mounted 90° away. As air passed by the airfoil, the lift it generated, if unopposed, would cause the wheel to rotate. The flat plate was oriented so its drag would push the wheel in the opposite direction of the airfoil. The airfoil and flat plate were made in specific sizes such that, according to Lilienthal's measurements,

13013-420: The interior of the fairing was painted white, and some small stiffening ribs were added. The craft has a single unsteerable and unthrottleable hybrid rocket motor, a cold gas reaction control system , and aerodynamic control surfaces . All can be controlled manually. See the separate section below concerning the rocket engine. The reaction control system is the only way to control spacecraft attitude outside

13156-439: The kite flyer. In return, the kite was under lateral control. In 1900 the brothers went to Kitty Hawk , North Carolina, to begin their manned gliding experiments. In his reply to Wilbur's first letter, Octave Chanute had suggested the mid-Atlantic coast for its regular breezes and soft sandy landing surface. Wilbur also requested and examined U.S. Weather Bureau data, and decided on Kitty Hawk after receiving information from

13299-583: The lift generated by the airfoil would exactly counterbalance the drag generated by the flat plate and the wheel would not turn. However, when the brothers tested the device, the wheel did turn. The experiment confirmed their suspicion that either the standard Smeaton coefficient or Lilienthal's coefficients of lift and drag – or all of them – were in error. They then built a six-foot (1.8 m) wind tunnel in their shop, and between October and December 1901 conducted systematic tests on dozens of miniature wings. The "balances" they devised and mounted inside

13442-501: The longest distance more than 600 feet (180 m). Having demonstrated lift, control, and stability, the brothers now turned their focus to the problem of power. Thus did three-axis control evolve: wing-warping for roll (lateral motion), forward elevator for pitch (up and down) and rear rudder for yaw (side to side). On March 23, 1903, the Wrights applied for their famous patent for a "Flying Machine", based on their successful 1902 glider. Some aviation historians believe that applying

13585-510: The masthead. In April 1890 they converted the paper to a daily, The Evening Item , but it lasted only four months. They then focused on commercial printing. One of their clients was Orville's friend and classmate, Paul Laurence Dunbar , who rose to international acclaim as a ground-breaking African-American poet and writer. For a brief period the Wrights printed the Dayton Tattler , a weekly newspaper that Dunbar edited. Capitalizing on

13728-475: The material they thought was needed to be self-sufficient at Kitty Hawk. Besides living in tents once again, they built a combination workshop and hangar. Measuring 25 feet (7.6 m) long by 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, the ends opened upward for easy glider access. Hoping to improve lift, they built the 1901 glider with a much larger wing area and made dozens of flights in July and August for distances of 50 to 400 ft (15 to 122 m). The glider stalled

13871-495: The model 72 Grizzly to investigate the possibility of a STOL canard aircraft. It was retired after testing in 1982. Lotus Microlight Rutan was approached by Colin Chapman , the founder of Lotus Cars , to design a single-seat ultralight aircraft . Again, a canard configuration was developed, the Rutan model 91. Colin Chapman's death in 1982 brought this project to an end, after the aircraft had flown. Ames AD-1 In

14014-677: The national bicycle craze (spurred by the invention of the safety bicycle and its substantial advantages over the penny-farthing design), in December 1892 the brothers opened a repair and sales shop (the Wright Cycle Exchange, later the Wright Cycle Company ) and in 1896 began manufacturing their own brand. They used this endeavor to fund their growing interest in flight. In the early or mid-1890s they saw newspaper or magazine articles and probably photographs of

14157-516: The need to control attitude actively during the early part of reentry: Scaled Composites refer to this as "care-free reentry". One of the early test flights actually performed re-entry inverted, demonstrating the flexibility and inherent stability of Burt Rutan 's " shuttlecock " design. This feathered reentry mode is claimed to be inherently safer than the behavior at similar speeds of the Space Shuttle . The Shuttle undergoes enormous aerodynamic stresses and must be precisely steered in order to remain in

14300-510: The nose of each pod will provide power during take off and an emergency backup for landing. With a cruising speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), Scaled says the Model 367 BiPod would have a range of 760 miles (1,220 km)." The plane can fly at 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) which reduces the range to 530 miles (850 km). "Out on the road, this roadable aircraft, which carries 18 US gallons (68 L; 15 imp gal) of fuel,

14443-439: The nozzle protruded from the back, but this turned out to be aerodynamically disadvantageous. In June 2004, between flights 14P and 15P , a fairing was added, smoothly extending the fuselage shape to meet the flared end of the nozzle. On flight 15P the new fairing overheated, due to being black on the inside and facing a hot, black nozzle. The fairing softened, and the lower part crumpled inwards during boost. Following that flight

14586-432: The number Langley used), not the traditional 0.0054, which would significantly exaggerate predicted lift. The brothers decided to find out if Lilienthal's data for lift coefficients were correct. They devised an experimental apparatus which consisted of a freely rotating bicycle wheel mounted horizontally in front of the handlebars of a bicycle. The brothers took turns pedaling the bicycle vigorously, creating air flow over

14729-419: The opposite direction, with the nose swinging downward." Orville apparently visualized that the fixed rudder resisted the effect of corrective wing-warping when attempting to level off from a turn. He wrote in his diary that on the night of October 2, "I studied out a new vertical rudder". The brothers then decided to make the rear rudder movable to solve the problem. They hinged the rudder and connected it to

14872-486: The opposite side of the tank from the fuel and the rest of the engine. This improves safety. It is filled to a pressure of 4.8  MPa (700 psi) at room temperature . The nozzle has an expansion ratio of 25:1, which is optimized for the upper part of the atmosphere. A different nozzle, with an expansion ratio of 10:1, is used for test firing on the ground. The nozzles are black on the outside, but for aerodynamic testing, red dummy nozzles are used instead. The rocket

15015-464: The overall shape is as two conventional planes, with very thin fuselages, side by side and joined at their wingtips, with the cockpit and engines mounted at the point of joining. Although White Knight was developed for certain roles in the Tier One program, it is a very capable aircraft in its own right. Scaled Composites describe it as a "high-altitude research aircraft". SpaceShipOne takes off from

15158-546: The oxidizer is stored under pressure, no pump is required. The tank liner and the fuel casing are built in-house by Scaled Composites . The tank over-wrap is supplied by Thiokol . The ablative nozzle is supplied by AAE Aerospace . The oxidizer fill, vent, and dump system is supplied by Environmental Aeroscience Corporation . The remaining components—the ignition system, main control valve, injector, tank bulkheads, electronic controls, and solid fuel casting—are supplied by SpaceDev . The CTN must be replaced between firings. This

15301-431: The pilot's warping "cradle", so a single movement by the pilot simultaneously controlled wing-warping and rudder deflection. The apparatus made the trailing edge of the rudder turn away from whichever end of the wings had more drag (and lift) due to warping. The opposing pressure produced by turning the rudder enabled corrective wing-warping to reliably restore level flight after a turn or a wind disturbance. Furthermore, when

15444-407: The possible leak paths. The oxidizer tank and CTN are bolted together at the main valve bulkhead, which is integrated into the tank. There are O-rings at the interface to prevent leakage; this is the main potential leak path in the engine. The ignition system, main control valve, and injector are mounted on the valve bulkhead, inside the tank. Slosh baffles are also mounted on this bulkhead. Because

15587-473: The powered flights. The Wrights based the design of their kite and full-size gliders on work done in the 1890s by other aviation pioneers. They adopted the basic design of the Chanute-Herring biplane hang glider ("double-decker" as the Wrights called it), which flew well in the 1896 experiments near Chicago, and used aeronautical data on lift that Otto Lilienthal had published. The Wrights designed

15730-428: The question, sometimes heatedly, until they concluded that an aeronautical propeller is essentially a wing rotating in the vertical plane. On that basis, they used data from more wind tunnel tests to design their propellers. The finished blades were just over eight feet long, made of three laminations of glued spruce. The Wrights decided on twin " pusher " propellers (counter-rotating to cancel torque), which would act on

15873-406: The same cabin, avionics , and trim system as SpaceShipOne. This means it can flight-qualify almost all components of SpaceShipOne. It also has a high thrust-to-weight ratio and large speed brakes. These features combined allow it to be used as a high-fidelity moving platform flight simulator for SpaceShipOne. White Knight is also equipped with a trim system which (when activated) causes it to have

16016-519: The same glide profile as SpaceShipOne; this allows the pilots to practice for landing SpaceShipOne. The same pilots fly White Knight as fly SpaceShipOne. The aircraft's distinctive shape features long, thin wings, in a flattened "W" shape, with a wingspan of 25 m (82 ft), dual tailplanes, and four wheels (front and rear at each side). The rear wheels retract, but the front ones, which are steerable, are permanently deployed, with small fairings, referred to as "spats", in front. Another way to look at

16159-411: The spacecraft incapable of landing independently, requiring mid-air retrieval . This was deemed too risky, and the hybrid final design manages to incorporate the feathering capability into a craft that can land in a conventional manner. The tiltable rear sections of the wings and the tailbooms are collectively referred to as "the feather". The landing gear consists of two widely separated main wheels and

16302-498: The successful VariEze (pronounced "very easy") homebuilt aircraft designs, in which he pioneered the use of moldless glass-reinforced plastic construction in homebuilts. The prototype, designated Model 31, made its public debut at the 1975 EAA Convention and Fly-In (now called AirVenture) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin . That same year, his brother Dick Rutan set a world distance record in the under-500 kg (1100 lb) class in

16445-481: The system of three-axis flight control on the 1902 glider was equal to, or even more significant, than the addition of power to the 1903 Flyer. Peter Jakab of the Smithsonian asserts that perfection of the 1902 glider essentially represents invention of the airplane. In addition to developing the lift equation, the brothers also developed the equation for drag. It is of the same form as the lift equation, except

16588-456: The tank, pointing backwards. The cantilevered design means that a variety of motor sizes can be accommodated without changing the interface or other components. The nozzle is a simple extension of the fuel casing; the casing and nozzle are actually a single component, referred to as the CTN ( c ase, t hroat, and n ozzle). Burt Rutan has applied for a patent on this engine configuration. There

16731-531: The team, building their first airplane engine in close collaboration with the brothers. The Wright brothers' status as inventors of the airplane has been subject to numerous counter-claims. Much controversy persists over the many competing claims of early aviators . Wilbur and Orville Wright were two of seven children born to Milton Wright (1828–1917), a clergyman of English and Dutch ancestry, and Susan Catherine Koerner (1831–1889), of German and Swiss ancestry. Milton Wright's mother, Catherine Reeder,

16874-641: The test program, the AD-1 was retired in 1982 and is now on exhibit in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California . ARES The Scaled Composites ARES , also called the "Mudfighter", is a full-size flying and shooting prototype of a lightweight low cost aircraft with a similar ground attack and support role as the A-10 . The aircraft first flew in 1990. Boomerang A departure from

17017-417: The tractor engine was used for take-off and initial climb to altitude, then was shut down. The aircraft was first flown with two Lycoming O-235 engines. After development work, it was reengined with a Continental O-200 (modified to include liquid cooling ) as the pusher engine and a Continental O-240 as the tractor engine. As a proving flight the aircraft made a record setting endurance flight off

17160-422: The tunnel to hold the wings looked crude, made of bicycle spokes and scrap metal, but were "as critical to the ultimate success of the Wright brothers as were the gliders." The devices allowed the brothers to balance lift against drag and accurately calculate the performance of each wing. They could also see which wings worked well as they looked through the viewing window in the top of the tunnel. The tests yielded

17303-414: The unsolved third part of "the flying problem". The other two parts – wings and engines – they believed were already sufficiently promising. The Wright brothers' plan thus differed sharply from more experienced practitioners of the day, notably Ader , Maxim , and Langley , who all built powerful engines, attached them to airframes equipped with untested control devices, and expected to take to

17446-717: The wing and land on his feet with his arms wrapped over the framework. Within a few glides, however, they discovered the pilot could remain prone on the wing, headfirst, without undue danger when landing. They made all their flights in that position for the next five years. Before returning to Kitty Hawk in the summer of 1901, Wilbur published two articles, "The Angle of Incidence" in The Aeronautical Journal , and "The Horizontal Position During Gliding Flight" in Illustrierte Aeronautische Mitteilungen . The brothers brought all of

17589-429: The wing's front-to-back dimension). Such shapes offered much better lift-to-drag ratio than the stubbier wings the brothers had tried so far. With this knowledge, and a more accurate Smeaton number, the Wrights designed their 1902 glider. The wind tunnel tests, made from October to December 1901, were described by biographer Fred Howard as "the most crucial and fruitful aeronautical experiments ever conducted in so short

17732-451: The wings of the Wright glider were braced by wires in their own version of Chanute's modified Pratt truss , a bridge-building design he used for his biplane glider (initially built as a triplane). The Wrights mounted the horizontal elevator in front of the wings rather than behind, apparently believing this feature would help to avoid, or protect them from, a nosedive and crash like the one that killed Lilienthal. Wilbur incorrectly believed

17875-416: The wings of the biplane in level position in known wind velocities ... They also devised a formula for power-to-weight ratio and propeller efficiency that would answer whether or not they could supply to the propellers the power necessary to deliver the thrust to maintain flight ... they even computed the thrust of their propellers to within 1 percent of the thrust actually delivered ..." In 1903

18018-420: The wings with camber , a curvature of the top surface. The brothers did not discover this principle, but took advantage of it. The better lift of a cambered surface compared to a flat one was first discussed scientifically by Sir George Cayley . Lilienthal, whose work the Wrights carefully studied, used cambered wings in his gliders, proving in flight the advantage over flat surfaces. The wooden uprights between

18161-425: The work of Sir George Cayley , Chanute, Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci , and Langley, they began their mechanical aeronautical experimentation that year. The Wright brothers always presented a unified image to the public, sharing equally in the credit for their invention. Biographers note that Wilbur took the initiative in 1899 and 1900, writing of "my" machine and "my" plans before Orville became deeply involved when

18304-467: The world's first successful airplane . They made the first controlled, sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, four miles (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina , at what is now known as Kill Devil Hills . In 1904 the Wright brothers developed the Wright Flyer II , which made longer-duration flights including

18447-446: Was a spaceplane designed to: The fuselage is cigar-shaped, with an overall diameter of about 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in). The main structure is of a graphite / epoxy composite material . From front to back, it contains the crew cabin, oxidizer tank, fuel casing, and rocket nozzle. The craft has short, wide wings, with a span of 5 m (16 ft) and a chord of 3 m (9.8 ft). Large vertical tailbooms are mounted on

18590-493: Was accidentally leaked to Air and Space . If it flew with no thermal protection, the spacecraft would survive reentry but would be damaged. The spacecraft's aerodynamic design has an acknowledged "known deficiency" that makes it susceptible to roll excursions. This has been seen on SpaceShipOne flight 15P where wind shear caused a large roll immediately after ignition, and SpaceShipOne flight 16P where circumstances not yet fully understood caused multiple rapid rolls. This flaw

18733-530: Was born in 1943 in Estacada, Oregon , near Portland, and raised in Dinuba, California . He was one of three children born to George (a dentist) and Irene Rutan. His sister, Nell Rutan, is a former flight attendant for American Airlines . He displayed an early interest in aircraft design. By the time he was eight years old, Rutan was designing and building model aircraft. His first solo flight piloting an airplane

18876-536: Was born near Millville, Indiana , in 1867; Orville in Dayton, Ohio , in 1871. The brothers never married. The other Wright siblings were Reuchlin (1861–1920), Lorin (1862–1939), Katharine (1874–1929), and twins Otis and Ida (born 1870, died in infancy). The direct paternal ancestry goes back to a Samuel Wright (b. 1606 in Essex , England) who sailed to America and settled in Massachusetts in 1636 . None of

19019-507: Was capable of 88 kN (20,000 lb f ) thrust and an 87 s (1.45 min) burn. Tier One's launch aircraft, Scaled Composites Model 318 , known as White Knight , is designed to take off and land horizontally and attain an altitude of about 15 km (9.3 mi), all while carrying the Tier One spacecraft in a parasite aircraft configuration. Its propulsion is by twin turbojets : afterburning J-85-GE-5 engines, rated at 15.6  kN (3,500 lb f ) of thrust each. It has

19162-651: Was descended from the progenitor of the Vanderbilt family  – one of America's richest families – and the Huguenot Gano family of New Rochelle, New York . Wilbur and Orville were the 3rd great nephews of John Gano , the Revolutionary War Brigade Chaplain, who allegedly baptized President George Washington . Through John Gano they were 5th cousins 1 time removed of billionaire and aviator Howard Hughes . Wilbur

19305-589: Was in an Aeronca Champ in 1959, at age 16. In 1965, he graduated third in his class from the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo) with a BS degree in aeronautical engineering. From 1965 to 1972, Rutan was a civilian flight test project engineer for the U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base , working on nine projects including the LTV XC-142 VSTOL transport and spin tests of

19448-573: Was killed in the plunge of his glider. These events lodged in the minds of the brothers, especially Lilienthal's death. The Wright brothers later cited his death as the point when their serious interest in flight research began. Wilbur said, "Lilienthal was without question the greatest of the precursors, and the world owes to him a great debt." In May 1899 Wilbur wrote a letter to the Smithsonian Institution requesting information and publications about aeronautics. Drawing on

19591-625: Was later developed by Rutan for the VariViggen, producing the VariViggen SP, Rutan model 32. The VariViggen was named in honor of the Saab 37 Viggen , a canard-configured fighter jet developed in Sweden. One VariViggen, built in France and named Micro Star, was powered by two Microturbo TRS-18 jet engines in lieu of the usual piston engine . VariEze and Long-EZ The VariViggen design led to

19734-409: Was less than expected, the brothers were encouraged because the craft's front elevator worked well and they had no accidents. However, the small number of free glides meant they were not able to give wing-warping a true test. The pilot lay flat on the lower wing, as planned, to reduce aerodynamic drag. As a glide ended, the pilot was supposed to lower himself to a vertical position through an opening in

19877-443: Was part of the accepted equation for lift. L = lift in pounds k = coefficient of air pressure (Smeaton coefficient) S = total area of lifting surface in square feet V = velocity (headwind plus ground speed) in miles per hour C L = coefficient of lift (varies with wing shape) The Wrights used this equation to calculate the amount of lift that a wing would produce. Over the years a wide variety of values had been measured for

20020-528: Was piloted by Mike Melvill . A few days before that flight, the Mojave Air and Space Port was the first commercial spaceport licensed in the United States. A few hours after that flight, Melvill became the first licensed U.S. commercial astronaut . The overall project name was " Tier One " which has evolved into Tier 1b with a goal of taking a successor ship's first passengers into space. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to those of

20163-410: Was still at Bede, was the VariViggen , a two-seat pusher single-engine craft of canard configuration. The canard would become a feature of many Rutan designs, notably the very popular VariEze and Long-EZ. He is also known for using exotic and unconventional materials in his designs. He was the first to use moldless composite construction. According to him, he started his composite work by copying

20306-439: Was the first airplane to fly nonstop, without refueling around the world. Piloted by Rutan's brother Dick and Jeana Yeager the airplane made the round the world flight over 9 days in December 1986. Around-the-world flights had been accomplished by military crews using in-flight refueling . Burt developed a twin-engined (piston engines, one pusher and one tractor) canard-configured design. The pusher engine ran continuously,

20449-470: Was upgraded in September 2004, between flights 15P and 16P . The upgrade increased the oxidizer tank size, to provide greater thrust in the early part of the burn, allow a longer burn, and delay the onset of the variable thrust phase at the end of the burn. Prior to the upgrade the engine generated 76 kN (17,000 lb f ) of thrust and could burn for 76 s (1.27 min). After the upgrade it

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