Virgin Galactic makes it a bad week for rocketeers

In article ,
says...

P.S. I wonder if a drag chute has been considered, as opposed
to the feathering wing for the descent phase? I wouldn't second
guess a Rutan design, though.

As someone who has B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a major in
dynamics and control with a minor in structures, Rutan's designs tend to
strike me as right on the borderline between brilliant and insane. But,
since I did not major or minor in aerodynamics, I really can't tell
which side of the border they truly fall.

But I do remember that transonic region is always a p.i.t.a. even after
you've solved the subsonic and supersonic issues with a design.
Remember the scene from "The Right Stuff" where the X-1 goes supersonic
for the first time? It's that sort of thing that worries me a bit with
a complex Rutan design.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer