IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced that Burt Rutan, founder/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, to take place Feb 22-24, 2005, in Anaheim, CA. An acclaimed inventor and aerospace engineer, 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. "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."

For more information, visit http://www.ipc.org or contact Joe Dudeck at (847) 790-5371 or via e-mail at Dudeck@ipc.org .