Burt Rutan's Boat-Plane Retirement Project (NewScientist)

Legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan is an inspiration for retirees. His latest project, a high-speed winged boat that can double as a seaplane, would allow him to fly between lakes and rivers near his home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Rutan is busy designing it now, but that’s not all that’s occupying his time. Just before his April retirement, he began experimenting with a flying car, which got off the ground for the first time in July. Even more ambitious, Rutan’s SpaceShipTwo — a follow-up to his crowning acheivement, SpaceShipOne, the first private aircraft to fly a human into space — is intended to carry six space tourists to an altitude of 120 kilometers.