Burt Rutan, founder and chief executive of the Mojave, Calif.-based aerospace research company Scaled Composites, made international headlines as the designer/developer of SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately built manned spacecraft to reach space.
He also designed the Voyager, which in 1989 became the first aircraft to circle the world non-stop without refueling. His Virgin GlobalFlyer later eclipsed Voyager's record time and became the first non-stop, solo flight around the world.
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