Countdown To The X-Prize Cup, Of Course...
By Aero-News Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose"
O'Brien
One of the coolest things about the original X-Prize was the
sheer breadth of innovation it spawned, the colorful variety of
responses people had to the challenge of a reusable suborbital
space vehicle. Many commentators noted the unconventionality of the
ultimate winner, the SpaceShipOne/White Knight combination, which
resembled the Mercury/Maya combination of a bygone day in concept,
but added a bunch of new wrinkles, most importantly "shuttlecock
recovery" or as Burt Rutan calls it, "carefree reentry." (By the
way, the idea came to Burt as he woke in the middle of the
night).