Low(er) Cost Commercial Space Flight Prototype Revealed
SpaceShipOne from Scaled Composites was the first, the first commercial ship to probe the (sub-orbital) heavens. It's successor, SpaceshipTwo has been revealed and, for just $200,000 each, you and five friends can sign up for a two and a half hour trip waaay up there. It'd be the trip of a lifetime, but at a cost many would have to spend their entire lives saving for. Now another company, XCOR, has unveiled plans for smaller, quicker, and (presumably) cheaper flights by 2010.
The ship is called the Lynx and seats just two, one of whom has to be the pilot, of course. This means that you won't be able to take any friends along, but the relative light weight and economy of the ship means just a 25-minute round-trip to the outer limits and the potential for multiple flights in a single day. No specific word on cost just yet, but if it's not considerably more affordable than the offerings from Scaled Composites we can't see this one getting off the ground.
From Engadget
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