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What part of "That's right, no gov't funds. No gov't interference aside from the usual permits." do you not understand?

Yes, they stand on the shoulders of giants. Nobody is saying they don't.

But they are the first to get off the dime.

NACA, the USAF, and NASA may have done this before, but not this quickly and certainly not as cheaply. The accomplishment is great, and currently, singular.

Repeating something that has already been done cheaper and faster does not prove a thing... that is how it is TYPICALLY! Once the first person has done it and solved all the hard parts, it is much easier for the next person to come along and do it... why? Because the hard problems were solved by the people who came before.. .this is true of all systems!

Did you know that in the 1700's a man who could add columns of numbers without seperating them out and adding them 2 at a time then adding the next one to the sum and then the next was considered a genius? Today kids are doing in in grades 1 and 2!

It took computer scientists decades to create the bubble sort, yet it is now standard fair for first year students! Anyone repeating an accomplished task can do it cheaper and faster... that's how things are.. replicating an accomplishment is always less costly and achieved faster than the the original accomplishment took.

Along the lines of HamiltonJay's post, a good deal of the credit should go to the company who built the hybrid rocket motor. With today's computers, designing an aerodynamic shell sturdy enough to break the sound barrier is only a moderate accomplishment. Like with the space shuttle, the two main technological advances were the thermal protection by Lockheed and the space shuttle main engines by Rocketdyne. That being said, congratulations to SC and their success. Hopefully it will continue.