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MOJAVE - For the potential consequence and bold nature of the undertaking, Antelope Valley Press "Newsmaker of the Year" recognition goes to Burt Rutan, designer of the globe-girdling Voyager aircraft and the revolutionary SpaceShipOne, the first private venture spacecraft judged likely to reach the heavens.
For the "Top Story of the Year," Valley Press journalists concluded that tragedy and hope claimed equal standing, with SpaceShipOne's story of potential global significance and the tragic line-of-duty death of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Stephen Sorensen ranking as the stories that most gripped Antelope Valley readers in 2003.

Other stories and newsmakers that held the attention of Valley readers included 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose name resides on the new Avenue M courthouse for north Los Angeles County; the Hon. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, for groundbreaking education legislation; and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, who played a newsmaking role in the landslide election of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the successful recall of former Gov. Gray Davis.

Runner's husband, George, also worked in the Schwarzenegger campaign, and the former assemblyman has a reputation as a strategist in the state GOP's conservative wing. Editors considered George Runner, a former "Newsmaker of the Year," this year for accepting a $60,000-plus-year consultancy from Lancaster while the former mayor and assemblyman campaigns for election to succeed state Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight in the 17th Senate District.

A survey of headlines and the Valley's place in history ceded recognition this year to Rutan. To recognize Rutan's cutting-edge work heading toward the edge of space is to recognize the leading role the Antelope Valley has played in aviation and the race to space.

Historic Valley events included Chuck Yeager's pioneering flight through the sound barrier, research and development on the Apollo moon lander, the space shuttle and development of stealth fighters and bombers that altered the strategic and tactical balance of world air power, giving the United States air dominance in global conflicts.

The "Newsmaker" recognition also underscores the role of Mojave Airport as world's leading research airport, making the East Kern facility a magnet for cutting-edge test flight and research. To speak of Burt Rutan and his strides in expanding the envelope also is to recognize the achievements of the other famous Rutan brother, Dick, who flew the Voyager on its December 1986 round-the-world flight with co-pilot Jeana Yeager. Dick Rutan now sits on the elected board at Mojave Airport.

The brothers are reputed to share a competitive nature, with Burt Rutan designing air and spacecraft of the future and Dick, a retired Air Force colonel, engaging in continued bold flight expeditions, whether trying to circle the globe in a balloon or returning from a Wiley Post-style close shave above the Arctic Circle.

This year, the laurels for advancing technology rest on the shoulders of Burt Rutan, who, among other honors, collected the Popular Science magazine award for "Best of What's New."

As recounted by Valley Press aerospace reporter Allison Gatlin, Popular Science magazine dubbed Burt Rutan's Tier One project for his Mojave-based Scaled Composites company "the most serious contender in the new space race."

The project is Scaled Composites' entry in the X-Prize race, an international competition intended to jump-start the space tourism industry. In the Tier One project, the rotund SpaceShipOne spacecraft is lofted airborne aboard the White Knight carrier aircraft, another Scaled Composites creation.

SpaceShipOne itself resembles the rocket ships of early science fiction flown by the likes of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. But SpaceShipOne inhabits the territory of science fact, not science fiction.

And if, as recounted in Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff," there is "no Buck Rogers without the bucks," the Rutan project is a spacecraft under development without government support.

In early flights, the craft has broken the sound barrier as well as some landing gear. The intention, as with other Rutan projects, is to break barriers, and for that reason, fills the "Newsmaker of the Year" and "Story of the Year" category.
 

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