Burt Rutan is the genious behind SpaceShipOne. In partnership with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, he's currently designing SpaceShipTwo, likely to be the first commercial aircraft to carry paying passengers into space.

Burt was born June 17, 1943 near Portland, Oregon but grew up in Dinuba, California near Fresno. Early on he showed an interest in aviation, designing and building his own models, and flew his first solo flight at the age of sixteen. He went on to major in aeronautical engineering at California Polytechnic University (CalPoly) in the beach town of San Louis Obispo, graduating third in his class in 1965.

After college, Burt worked for seven years as a flight test engineer at Edwards Air Force Base before moving on to Newton, Kansas where he was director of Bede Aircraft's Bede Test Center.

Burt returned to California in 1974 to build the Rutan Aircraft Factory in the tiny desert town of Mojave, just down the road from his old stomping grounds at Edwards AFB. From the very beginning, he showed a talent for creating bold, innovative and effective designs; his first brainchild, the Rutan VariViggen, employed a "pusher" prop and front canard, signature features of many of his later products like the popular VariEze and Long-EZ plan-built planes and the fabulously sleek Beech Starship, one of which flew as a chase plane for the SpaceShipOne flights.

The Rutan Aircraft Factory's masterpiece was Voyager. In 1986 Burt's brother Dick, along with Jeana Yeager (no relation to Chuck Yeager), circled the globe in Voyager, completing the first non-stop, un-refueled flight around the world. The flight covered 24,985 miles and lasted nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds. No landing, no refueling.

In 1982 Burt founded Scaled Composites at the Mojave Airport, where he has consistently pushed the envelope using modern, high-tech composite fabrication technologies to produce numerous research prototype aircraft for government, military and business customers. Burt's Scaled Composites is also the birthplace of many of the most exciting aircraft in recent decades, including Global Flyer and, of course, SpaceShipOne. In March, 2006 Global Flyer topped Voyager's performance when Steve Fossett flew it around the world in the first, non-stop solo flight. This time, the flight covered 26,389 miles - almost 1,500 miles further - but instead of nine days lasted only 67 hours.

Burt's engineering skills are not limited to aviation projects. He designed many of the wind mills that generate power in the hills overlooking the Mojave Airport as well as the rigid wing-like "sail" that Dennis Conners used to win the America's Cup sailboat race in 1988.

Amazingly, at least six of Burt Rutan's fantastic aircraft - including Voyager, Global Flyer and SpaceShipOne - are now on permanent display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. SpaceShipOne hangs prominently in the main entry hall, the "Milestones of Flight" gallery, sharing airspace and bragging rights with the Wright Flyer, The Spirit of St. Louis, Chuck Yeager's "Glamorous Glennis" Bell X-1, John Glenn's "Friendship 7" space capsule and numerous other historic aircraft.

Burt lives in a futuristic pyramid-shaped home on seven acres of the Mojave Desert with his lovely wife, Tonya and his pet tropical bird.