Best Inventions 2005: Up and Away
COURTESY PURDUE UNIVERSITY
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THIERRY BOCCON-GIBOD / REUTERS
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Round Trip
Inventor: Burt Rutan
Availability: Sorry, it's one of a kind
To Learn More: globalflyer.com
The nonstop, nonrefueling solo flight around the world is the last great milestone in the history of aviation. Or it was. On March 1 the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, designed by Burt Rutan (who also designed the first civilian spacecraft, SpaceShipOne), took off from an airfield in a small town in Kansas; 67 hr. 2 min. 38 sec. and 23,000 miles later, the aviation world had reached another milestone. GlobalFlyer is so light (at takeoff, its weight is 83% fuel) and so aerodynamic (with a 114-ft. wingspan) that it has to use drag parachutes to help it get back down to the ground.
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