July 08, 2004

Mellvill and Rutan at Airventure

Rutan-designed StarshipSpeaking of "the other convention" Mike and Burt, of SpaceShipOne fame, confirmed that they will attend, and speak, at the upcoming convention.

EAA President Tom Poberezny was personally contacted by SpaceShipOne designer/builder Burt Rutan late Monday, expressing thanks for the support and congratulations from EAA following Monday's successful flight of SpaceShipOne over California.

Rutan also said he was "looking forward to a good event" at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this year, including four forum presentations by Rutan, plus his Theater in the Woods evening program "Fun at Mojave" on Thursday, July 29.

They've announced that they will be arriving in the Rutan-designed Starship, which was one of the exotic looking craft that we saw operating as "chase plane" for the historic flight.

It's probably too much to expect Rutan's "spacecraft" to visit OSH this summer, since they are in the midst of final work to compete for the X-Prize, but on the other hand, Burt is well known for his dramatic gestures, so there's no telling what might happen at the last minute.

Posted by jackhodgson at July 8, 2004 02:15 PM