7 November 2004: Next Space Race Under Way, 60 Minutes

“Rutan also won bragging rights over the space establishment, which he frequently criticizes for being inefficient and bureaucratic. “You know, I was wondering what they are feeling, ‘they’ being that other space agency,” Rutan laughs. “And, uh… you know, quite frankly, I think the big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds, the nay-say people at Houston, I think they’re looking at each other now, and saying, ‘We’re screwed!’ Because, I’ll tell you something, I have of a hell a lot bigger goal than they do!” He’s already at work, designing the details.”

6 November 2004: Spaceship team gets its $10 million prize, MSNBC

6 November 2004: Private Spaceship Designers Given $10M, AP

7 November 2004: Winners of X Prize get their reward, St.Louis Post Dispatch

“On Saturday, engineers were treated like rock stars. St. Louisans connected their past glory to a future legacy. And the winners in this generation’s latest space race accepted a $10 million prize while promising a ticket to the heavens.”

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...