The modern day version of the Wright Brothers

Since our flight out to Virginia and back Baby Bop has been fascinated by planes. Whenever the topic comes up he will sign that he wants "more."

At the library last week we picked up a couple books on the Wright Brothers. I was struck by just how primitive their plane looked.

The X Prize Foundation was created to stimulate research and development. They do this by offering a cash prize for some task. X Prize has a million dollar prize for doing two successful launches close together. They report:

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Armadillo Aerospace successfully completed the requirements for Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge yesterday. Braving rain delays, igniter problems, software re-compiles, and muddy roads, they put together two successful 180-second flights within the required 135 minute time period.
We offer our heartiest congratulations to Armadillo and our best wishes to the other teams. We look forward to attending launches by team Masten, team Unreasonable Rocket, and perhaps others in the coming weeks.
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One of my brothers found one of the flights:



The tiny little plane the Wright Brothers flew launched a $300 billion dollar a year business. Now millions of people can afford to travel to far distances that a hundred years ago were a pipe dream.

Developments like Armadillo's hint at what the future holds for us, and our children. It will be very exciting. I wonder if one of our grandchildren will be telling his parents that he wants another trip to the moon?


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