Man in the News: Burt Rutan, Rocket Man
The Financial Times
He has been married four times – a friend told a 2004 New Yorker interview that his current wife was “the best one he’s ever had” – and he tends to start each day with a rousing rendition of James Brown’s “I Feel Good”.
“Burt is plain-talking, direct and he has a great sense of humour,” says Robert Weiss, president of the X-Prize Foundation. “He can also be very charming – and he looks a lot like Wolverine’s dad.”
Like the X-Men character he resembles, he has an intensity that manifests itself in his political views. A libertarian, he has no patience with government meddling in private enterprise and is dismayed at the waste in America’s official space programme. “He understands space projects need to be regulated but doesn’t think governments should regulate every aspect of life,” says Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic.
Climate change is another source of contention. While he has built an energy efficient house and was one of the first to drive an electric car, he is unconvinced by the link between global warming and man-made emissions. “He’s not a climate-change denier, he just doesn’t think the science is necessarily right,” says another friend. “He’s big on conspiracy theories.”
Read the full story.
Similar Posts:
- Qatar, Bahrain Considered Stakes in Virgin Galactic
- Whitehorn: Virgin Galactic Costs Will Come Down
- Virgin Galactic Conducts Successful Rocket Tests for SpaceShipTwo
- The Times Profiles Virgin Galactic’s Will Whitehorn
- Virgin Galactic to Roll Out WhiteKnightTwo in July; Team to Visit Oshkosh Air Show
