"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
This quote by Burt Rutan suggests that perfection isn't about adding more elements or complexity to a design or idea, but rather about refining it until only the essential components remain. The essence of this thought encourages minimalism, simplicity, and the elimination of unnecessary elements, aiming for an optimal solution with maximum efficiency. It is a call to focus on the core principles and to continually strip away anything that does not contribute to achieving the ultimate goal or purpose.
"If you can't make it fly, you don't understand it well enough."
This quote from Burt Rutan emphasizes the importance of thorough understanding in any creative or innovative process, particularly when designing and building something as complex as an aircraft. The phrase "make it fly" symbolizes success in the endeavor, but more importantly, it signifies that a deep comprehension of the subject matter is crucial to achieving that success. If one cannot make their creation function properly (in this case, fly), it suggests a lack of understanding or mastery over the relevant concepts and principles. Thus, Rutan's quote encourages engineers, designers, and innovators to persist in their studies and strive for a profound understanding of their projects to ensure eventual success.
"The first time I see a UFO on one of my spacecraft, we are going to have an interesting conversation."
This quote suggests that Burt Rutan, a renowned American aerospace engineer, is expressing his curiosity about potential unknown objects or phenomena (UFOs) in space. He implies that when such an event happens during one of his spacecraft missions, it would lead to an intriguing and engaging discussion, as he encounters something new and unexplained. The statement underscores his adventurous spirit and dedication to the exploration of space.
"The airplane is the closest thing to nature we have made. It's the best example we have of something that can really perform in the way nature intended."
This quote suggests that an aircraft, designed and built by humans, embodies the essence of natural flight as closely as any man-made object can. It implies that the airplane, through its ability to soar through the sky with freedom and grace, mirrors the way nature intended for creatures to move and adapt within their environment. The quote highlights a harmonious connection between human ingenuity and the inherent laws of nature, demonstrating how technology can embody and complement the natural world rather than disrupt it.
"Some people dream of success, others wake up and work hard at it."
This quote by Burt Rutan implies that there is a difference between people who merely fantasize about achieving success and those who are willing to put in the necessary effort to make it a reality. The former group dreams about success, while the latter takes actionable steps towards their goals, working diligently to turn their aspirations into tangible outcomes. Essentially, it highlights the value of hard work, determination, and persistence in one's pursuit of success.
The most impressive airplane ever, I believe, was designed only a dozen years after the first operational jet. Stayed in service till it was too rusty to fly, taken out of service. We retreated in '98 back to something that was developed in '56. What? The most impressive spaceship ever, I believe, was a Grumman Lunar Lander.
- Burt Rutan
There was a wonderful little short four-year time period when marvelous things happened. It started in 1908, when the Wright brothers flew in Paris, and everybody said, 'Ooh, hey, I can do that.' There's only a few people that have flown in early 1908. In four years, 39 countries had hundreds of airplanes, thousands of pilots.
- Burt Rutan
Airplanes were invented by natural selection. Now you can say that intelligent design designs our airplanes of today, but there was no intelligent design really designing those early airplanes. There were probably at least 30,000 different things tried, and when they crash and kill the pilot, don't try that again.
- Burt Rutan
I was shocked to find that there were actually climate scientists who wouldn't share the raw data, but would only share their conclusions in summary graphs that were used to prove their various theories about planet warming. In fact I began to smell something really bad, and the worse that smell got, the deeper I looked.
- Burt Rutan
Space travel is the only technology that is more dangerous and more expensive now than it was in its first year. Fifty years after Yuri Gagarin, the space shuttle ended up being more dangerous and more expensive to fly than those first throwaway rockets, even though large portions of it were reusable. It's absurd.
- Burt Rutan
For the industry we're starting now, for suborbital flight, there is no destination, so the spacecraft you go up in has to be large and spacious. That's why SpaceShipTwo is much bigger than SpaceShipOne: It needs to be because you want those six people to be floating around and enjoying themselves.
- Burt Rutan
By 1931, after a few years' experience of flying scheduled airlines, those planes were operating at roughly 600 times the safety of the space shuttle. I look at safety not in terms of fatalities per passenger-mile, but when you get in and close the door, what is the risk of dying on this flight?
- Burt Rutan
To allow public access to orbit, we would need breakthroughs that would lower the cost by a lot more than an order of magnitude and increase safety by a factor of 100 as compared to every launch system used since the first manned space flight. I think airborne launch will be a significant part of the safety solution.
- Burt Rutan
Virgin Galactic, which will be operating SpaceShipTwo, will be only one of several spacelines. The competitors for Virgin include the Russians, Bezos's Blue Origin, and possibly Rocketplane Kistler. And likely a couple of others who are smart enough not to tell people what they are doing!
- Burt Rutan
I drove an electric car for seven years because of its advanced technology, not because I have any concerns about energy resources. I have none at all. And when environmentalists say that global warming is dangerous, unprecedented and that we'll have a tipping point for atmospheric carbon dioxide, it's just nonsense.
- Burt Rutan
The photographs of space taken by our astronauts have been published all over the place. But the eye is a much more dynamic mechanism than any camera or pictures. It's a more exciting view in person than looking at the photographs. Of course, I personally am sick and tired of hearing people talk like that: I want to see it myself!
- Burt Rutan
By 1973, we had a space station, the Skylab, and we had multiple probes going up to planets. So, all this wonderful stuff happened in 10 to 15 years. About that time, there should have been enormous initiatives to make it affordable for people to fly in space, not just a handful of trained NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.
- Burt Rutan
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