Armadillo Aerospace's Xprize prototype crashes

Checkout the video link at bottom.

www.space.com...

People seem to think this is easy. This confirms my belief that Burt Rutan is the best airplane designer since Kelly Johnson

I agree too.He's not stuck in the ol' mindset of typical by-the-book aerospace engineers.

Geez, how hard is it to launch a rocket into space?! Not like its brain surgery... Oh wait, it IS rocket science! Too bad for Carmack, he seems like a good guy!

Maybe the rocket crashed because the team was so busy playing DOOM 3!?

He'll be back in no time when first Doom 3 profits start comin' in.....hehe.

$35,000 of rocket is now a whole lot of primo Armadillo Droppings,� Carmack reported on their web site. �

Wow talk about space on the cheap. Alot of new cars cost more then that. Space ship One cost millions of dollars right?

So this is the John Carmack of DOOM fame thats pretty cool. Was that the guy that had his head in the secret room at the end of DOOM2 or was that John Romero ?

Yeah, SS1 costs around 23 million.

and FREDT, thats a pretty bold statement, comparing the amazing planes that kelly did compared to burt rutan.

Kelly wins, hands down.

As for Rutan i'm hoping that after the 2 sub-orb flights and he wins the 10 mill. that he doesn't stop and just stuff it into a museum. I've read some things about him, and that he basically builds "stunt" planes just to get money, recognition, and a place in the history books.

I'm rooting to the Toronto based Da Vinci Project which plans on launching their rocket from a baloon at 80,000 ft. And get this they only spent 500,000 cnd hard cash, and all their engineering was donated. The Da Vinci Project is the largest volunteer effort ever in Canada if not the World. They still need another half-mil to cover launch costs though. They plan on launching on Oct 3 almost a week after Burt Rutan and Co. will make their first attempt so Its kind of neck in neck right now. Also the London, Ontaio based Canadian Arrow is starting test flights this month, and are nearing their notice of intent to launch although they are a very very long shot they are plodding along and probably have their sites set on the X-Prize Cup tentatevly set for 2005 in New Mexico

[edit on 11-8-2004 by sardion2000]

I'm for Rutan and SS1 to win Xprize.DaVinci in my opinion has a big disadvantage by using a balloon to get airborne.Theyre at the mercy of the weather and there's no way they can control which direction the winds will blow the balloon.Risk for something to go wrong goes way up with a rocket attached.Hope they've got a good eacape plan.

Originally posted by FredT
People seem to think this is easy. This confirms my belief that Burt Rutan is the best airplane designer since Kelly Johnson

Just imagine what could be in the air right now if the two could have teamed up.