Go Burt. Since the Apollo program America has become so averse to risk that the engineering world has quit daring to be bold (see the cancelled Sonic Cruiser for just one example). This attempt by Scaled Composites to shoot a private citizen into space feels like a big ‘ol “bite me” to the politically-correct, fearful-of-adventure, ultra-conservative mentality that is so prevalent today. I’m hoping they succeed, but moreso it’s laudible that someone is willing to strap themself into a homemade spaceship and risk death, simply because in this case a life lived in complete safety would eliminate the possibility of a glorious adventure.
"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell