鈥淗oney, I can鈥檛 hear you. Emergency evacuation?鈥� Burt Rutan gives me a bewildered look, then hands me his cellphone. I listen for his wife but all I hear is a loud clatter and the howl of the wind.
It鈥檚 Monday evening and we鈥檙e in an aircraft hangar outside Mojave, California, a small town around 160聽kilometres north of Los Angeles. Sleet and icy winds are gusting outside at speeds over 100聽kilometres per hour.
Rutan is the designer of , the world鈥檚 first privately built passenger-carrying spacecraft. An hour earlier, he and Richard Branson 鈥� the principal funder 鈥� unveiled SpaceShipTwo at a glitzy ceremony. Despite the weather, the event drew 800 whooping VIPs, media people and celebrities 鈥� including the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Atmospheric music and a dramatic light show set the mood as SpaceShipTwo loomed into view slung under its mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo, the aircraft that will carry it to high altitude for launch.
Branson鈥檚 daughter smashed a bottle of champagne across the nose of the craft and renamed it Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise. Then everyone headed into two huge tents for a party to quaff champagne and vodka cocktails.
Rutan is unmoved by the glitz. 鈥淲e call it Mojavewood,鈥� he tells me as we slip away from the party for a quiet chat in his office.
Party down
I give him his phone back and he tries his wife again. Eventually, the message gets through. She says the party tent is being evacuated for fear it might get blown away. Moments later, three of Rutan鈥檚 senior managers arrive to tell him they can鈥檛 get the spacecraft back in the hangar 鈥� the wind is so strong that there鈥檚 a risk it might get blown into a wall.
We head out to the runway and find the spacecraft anchored for safety. It is bobbing in the wind. One engineer suggests creating a windshield using the buses that brought guests from Los Angeles so that it can be wheeled back into the hangar. The idea is quickly dismissed as too risky. Instead the aircraft is left anchored, and everyone is evacuated to a nearby hotel.
On the way, we drive past Schwarzenegger鈥檚 private jet as it taxis along the runway. It has been held on the ground for two hours because the wind was too strong to take off. Moments later we pass the party tent, which has now been reduced to a pile of tarpaulin and twisted metal. 鈥淚 told them it was a bad idea to hold the event in this weather,鈥� says Rutan.
Hot ticket
Branson is banking on Rutan to create a craft that will allow him to sell rides to the edge of space 鈥� an altitude of 100聽kilometres 鈥� where passengers will experience up to 5聽minutes of weightlessness. So far, he鈥檚 sold 300 tickets at $200,000 a time, funding just over half the development cost of SpaceShipTwo. Some aspiring astronauts paid up five years ago.
For that outlay, Branson must know that you have to give your customers something to look forward to 鈥� hence yesterday鈥檚 roll-out. If Rutan had had his way, however, no one would have seen SpaceShipTwo until it was ready to take passengers into space. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just an unhelpful distraction and unwanted pressure,鈥� he says.
So when will the spacecraft be ready? 鈥淭his is a research project, so we don鈥檛 have timetables. I can鈥檛 tell you how far off we are, but it鈥檚 not complete yet,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he wasn鈥檛 even painted three days ago and she won鈥檛 be flying in the next few weeks, that鈥檚 for sure.鈥� However, Rutan adds that he鈥檚 confident test flights will begin in 2010.
In the meantime, a few aspiring astronauts have no doubt had their enthusiasm topped up.
