Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He is famous for his design of the record-breaking Voyager, which was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refuelling, and the sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 for becoming the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space twice within a two week period. Read more
Burt Rutan believes that what we're exposed to as children moulds us into adults with the courage to try new things. So it's appropriate that the renowned aircraft designer, entrepreneur and visionary will expose 2,000 local students to his ideas at the Shaw Conference Centre on June 3.