The Soviet "Project 52"
And NOW I see what he's talking about.
Yes, there is a startling resemblance to this Soviet design from around 1980. Not so much the spacecraft itself, but the White Knight carrier.
Consider: the WhiteKnightTwo unveiled January 2008
-- and the Myasishchev Project 52 from about 30 years earlier.
Startling, no? I'd wager long odds that Burt Rutan saw this design.
But there is, again, the important difference: The Soviet craft (with the large booster attached) was intended to go into orbit. The amount of fuel carried makes the carried vehicle much heavier than SpaceShipTwo (notice the much broader intra-wing section).
Still, it's easy to see how a "WhiteKnight III" could sport this heavier wing, and the next stage (so to speak) into space.
Interesting that they've abandoned the "funky random porthole" effect (used on both WhiteKnight and SpaceShipOne) for a more conventional windshield on both new craft. Here was a "sneak peek" of what SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnight II might have looked like (as of September 2007) -- using the random portholes:
===|==============/ Level Head
Yes, there is a startling resemblance to this Soviet design from around 1980. Not so much the spacecraft itself, but the White Knight carrier.
Consider: the WhiteKnightTwo unveiled January 2008
-- and the Myasishchev Project 52 from about 30 years earlier.
Startling, no? I'd wager long odds that Burt Rutan saw this design.
But there is, again, the important difference: The Soviet craft (with the large booster attached) was intended to go into orbit. The amount of fuel carried makes the carried vehicle much heavier than SpaceShipTwo (notice the much broader intra-wing section).
Still, it's easy to see how a "WhiteKnight III" could sport this heavier wing, and the next stage (so to speak) into space.
Interesting that they've abandoned the "funky random porthole" effect (used on both WhiteKnight and SpaceShipOne) for a more conventional windshield on both new craft. Here was a "sneak peek" of what SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnight II might have looked like (as of September 2007) -- using the random portholes:
===|==============/ Level Head