20060208
    Steve Fossett, adventurer extraordinaire and friend of Burt Rutan of SpaceShipOne fame, took off today on his quest to fly around the world without sleeping. Many might ask, ‘Why do thisâ€, and the answer, “Because its thereâ€, may not seem sufficient.
    The answer is that every step we take to prove we can do something that has never been done before, from flying a commercial spaceplane into space to flying around the world in 80 hours, brings us closer to the next chapter in technology that all of us may use.
    How does that work? Consider that, in designing a plane that can fly around the world nonstop in 80 hours, the design team at Scaled Composites have developed technologies and techniques which will allow future aircraft to be lighter and more fuel efficient, therefore able to fly faster and farther than they currently do.
    The same goes for commercial spacecraft. While the current technology will likely result in not much more than a really expensive thrill ride, the same technology will help develop spaceplanes that will allow us to go from New York to Tokyo in times measured in a couple of hours instead of days.
    The bottom line is that the answer, “Because its thereâ€, really means, “Because of what we can do.†Like all of the great adventurers before them, these men blaze a trail to places none of us have yet been, but where we will likely follow.
DLH
