Burt Rutan is an aerospace engineer, a towering genius, designer of the first privately funded craft to enter space, designer of the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling (and then piloted it in the successful attempt) and many, many other achievements. On April 1 2011 he retired from Scaled Composites, concluding an inspiring career and leaving enormous shoes to fill.

Here's Burt in 2006 at a TED conference, championing the private sector as the future of space flight.

http://www.ted.com/talks/burt_...