Rutan on the Proposed Budget for NASA

In sci.space.history Pat Flannery wrote:
He just wants Virgin Galactic to have a monopoly on the space tourism
business.

Him, or NorthrupGrumman, the parent company of ScaledComposites?

rick jones
--
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On 2/26/2010 4:09 AM, John wrote:

Mr. Rutan has prided himself on avoiding being tied to federal funds,
and his company, Scaled Composites, is currently developing a fleet of
space-tourism rocketships entirely with private funds.

Yeah...no federal funds...except building a 1/2 scale B-2 for RCS tests,
the Model 226 Raptor for the DOE, using White Knight to do drop tests of
the DARPA X-37, building fuselage for NASA's X-38 drop test vehicle,
building a RC test model for the NASA ERAST UAV...
But other than that... :-D
He just wants Virgin Galactic to have a monopoly on the space tourism
business.

Pat

On 2/26/2010 6:20 PM, Rick Jones wrote:
In sci.space.history Pat wrote:
He just wants Virgin Galactic to have a monopoly on the space tourism
business.

Him, or NorthrupGrumman, the parent company of ScaledComposites?

If it had been BoeLockMart I would have been suspicious, but does NG
have any plans for future space vehicles?

Pat

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:05:19 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:


Him, or NorthrupGrumman, the parent company of ScaledComposites?

If it had been BoeLockMart I would have been suspicious, but does NG
have any plans for future space vehicles?

They would probably have been the frontrunner for Altair.

Brian

Given that Grumman had the Apollo LM contract, that would have been a
distinct possiblity. IIRC they were talking to the old LM guys about working
with the Altair design people.
"Brian Thorn" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:05:19 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:


Him, or NorthrupGrumman, the parent company of ScaledComposites?

If it had been BoeLockMart I would have been suspicious, but does NG
have any plans for future space vehicles?

They would probably have been the frontrunner for Altair.

Brian

On 2/26/2010 9:18 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

They would probably have been the frontrunner for Altair.

(Cut to image of flying wing gliding towards the Lunar surface)
I can imagine Grumman's boys getting the contract though, and once again
realizing that this was going to be nowhere near as simple at it looked
at the beginning. :-)

Pat

On 2/26/2010 11:59 PM, Matt Wiser wrote:
Given that Grumman had the Apollo LM contract, that would have been a
distinct possiblity. IIRC they were talking to the old LM guys about working
with the Altair design people.

Old LM hand to the current engineers:
"Do you guys drink and smoke a lot?"
"Uh, no, not really."
"Don't worry...you will. Now, let's get going on our first gallon of
coffee, shall we?" ;-)

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:
On 2/26/2010 11:59 PM, Matt Wiser wrote:
Given that Grumman had the Apollo LM contract, that would have been a
distinct possiblity. IIRC they were talking to the old LM guys about
working with the Altair design people.

Old LM hand to the current engineers:
"Do you guys drink and smoke a lot?"
"Uh, no, not really."
"Don't worry...you will. Now, let's get going on our first gallon of
coffee, shall we?" ;-)

Pat

Don't forget the handballs. Gotta order the handballs by the gross. And
have a large flat roof near by.


--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

On 2/27/2010 4:58 AM, Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
Old LM hand to the current engineers:
"Do you guys drink and smoke a lot?"
"Uh, no, not really."
"Don't worry...you will. Now, let's get going on our first gallon of
coffee, shall we?" ;-)

Pat

Don't forget the handballs. Gotta order the handballs by the gross. And
have a large flat roof near by.

That was my favorite episode of FTETTM. :-)
I was thinking about it last night, and was somewhat surprised that Bell
didn't get the LM contract rather than Grumman; not only was the LM far
closer in concept to a helicopter than a fighter plane, but Bell had
VTOL aircraft experiance with their X-14 and XF-109 projects.

Pat

" I was thinking about it last night, and was somewhat surprised that Bell
didn't get the LM contract rather than Grumman; not only was the LM far
closer in concept to a helicopter than a fighter plane, but Bell had VTOL
aircraft experiance with their X-14 and XF-109 projects.

My understanding of the situation at the time was that Martin had done much
of the contracted planning work etc and was considered the obvious winner.
I've met engineers who were hired by Martin in anticipation of the win.