As the dangerous, antiquated, and hugely expensive space shuttles face yet another setback and Bush launches a Mars mission powered mainly by hot air, mankind’s best hope for manned commercial exploration may be Burt Rutan, a great example of what single-minded dedication to one’s dreams can achieve. Burt Rutan has built 40 and designed over 300 aircraft, many of which featured radically new composite designs and set records on efficiency, range, and speed. Unfortunately, the massive FAA bureaucracy and regulatory muck makes certification of radically new designs so expensive that only one has been approved for commercial production. But Burt hasn’t let that slow him down – he’s currently testing SpaceShipOne, the first privately-created spaceship, and working on a repeat of his record-setting round the world flight in just 80 hours.