Burt Rutan is an incredible engineer and one of his most famous designs was that of the Voyager. the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.  Here is a brief intro to his TED talk on video:

In this passionate talk, legendary spacecraft designer Burt Rutan lambasts the US government-funded space program for stagnating and asks entrepreneurs to pick up where NASA has left off.

Is he right?  There are some very strong points and of course bureaucracy and a lot of moving parts can slow down innovation.  At the same time, NASA has been really pushing the envelope with some of it’s recent projects and accomplishments, such as the Ceres fly by, new pics of Pluto and more.

Let’s watch his discussion in the video on page 2 and you can decide if he is right or wrong.

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