In the near future, people other than astronauts will travel regularly into space. Not long after that, some will live on settlements among the stars. And it looks like these developments won’t come from NASA or other government space programs, but from privately engineered spaceflight.


This future started to materialize when aviation company Scaled Composites, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for being the first to send its civilian pilots into space (higher than 62 miles above the Earth’s surface) twice in two weeks. The brain behind the triumphant SpaceShipOne and Scaled Composites was sideburned aerospace legend Burt Rutan.


Monterey’s Dan Linehan describes Rutan’s strides in aviation design – from his first years engineering safer planes to the plans for SpaceShipOne’s sequel (SpaceShipTwo) – in his latest book, Burt Rutan’s Race to Space: The Magician of Mojave and His Flying Innovations. 


Seeing flight’s evolution across Rutan’s career leaves Linehan no doubt that more casual space travel is on the horizon.


“We’re finding new planets all the time,” he says. “Not just planets; planets like Earth. We’re finding potential for other civilizations. It’s really happening.”


Before Scaled Composites, Rutan ran a company called Rutan Aircraft Factory that sold plane instructions and kits to the public for at-home construction. For years, RAF enabled Rutan’s creations, many of which looked peculiar and unconventional. Linehan says, “[He had] some radical ideas that people thought were just Star Wars stuff.” 


Linehan highlights Rutan’s major innovations and important accomplishments on lush, glossy pages enriched with diagrams, tables, drawings and color photographs. Though the detail can look technical, Linehan’s work on science textbooks makes the reading both accessible and fascinating. As Allen writes in the introduction, “[He] shows himself to be an engaging writer who combines scientific know-how with behind-the-scenes reporting that makes this book read like an adventure story.”


Local connections led Linehan to the otherworldly opportunity. In 2001, he reported on the California International Air Show in Salinas for the Weekly. Soon thereafter, he began writing for the show itself. His portfolio helped him beat out a Vanity Fair writer and aviation experts to write a book called SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History, an account of the Ansari X Prize win.


The project gave him entry into Rutan’s world but not his trust or confidence. “Before, when I did the first book, I was definitely an outsider,” Linehan says. Now that has changed. Linehan stays at Rutan’s during visits, joins him on the golf course and continues to share rambling conversations about space. 


Rutan officially retired from Scaled Composites in 2011, but not before the company joined with billionaire Richard Branson and his Virgin Group in 2006 to begin work on SpaceShipTwo. To date, it has made around 15 glide test flights. Its rocket engine is in development and Branson’s Virgin Galactic has 430 people down on paper as future passengers, with each to pay $200,000 for the ride.


The first passengers on Virgin Galactic will likely be individuals who enjoy profound influence in government and business. Linehan hopes that a view of the blue planet from above might make them see their imperiled home with a little more compassion.


“Technology should make us more human,” he says, “not take away our humanity.” 


BURT RUTAN’S RACE TO SPACE book signing happens 3pm Sunday, Aug. 7, at the Works, 667 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. Free. 372-2242.