IPC keynote speaker makes history

IPC has announced that Burt Rutan, founder and CEO of Scaled Composites and designer of SpaceShipOne—the first privately funded rocket ship to carry a human into space—will be the final keynote speaker at its co-located IPC SMEMA Council’s APEX/IPC Printed Circuits Expo/IPC Designers Summit exhibition, which takes place February 22-24, 2005, in Anaheim.

Referred to as “the world’s greatest airplane designer,” Rutan is an aviation legend, acclaimed inventor and aerospace engineer.  Under his leadership, Rutan has led several teams in the development of groundbreaking aviation designs and projects.

Most recently, Rutan teamed with inventor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen to develop the SpaceShipOne program.  On Monday, June 21, 2004, Test Pilot Mike Melvill guided the space vehicle to a record breaking altitude of approximately 62 miles, making Melvill the first civilian and the first private pilot to fly a spaceship out of the atmosphere.

The SpaceShipOne project now stands as the leading contender for the $10 million ANSARI X PRIZE™, a civilian space flight competition between the most talented entrepreneurs and rocket experts in the world to be the first team to privately finance, build and launch a reusable aircraft able to carry three people 62.5 miles, return safely to Earth and be re-launched within two weeks.

“We are excited to have Mr. Rutan speak to our attendees,” said Alicia Balonek, IPC’s director of Trade Show Operations.  “He is obviously a tried and true technologist, and, as a result, he is very particular about the composition of his audience.  But in our case and because of his engineering background, he was excited to address our group.”