Fully Reusable Rocket for Space Tourism in the Works

A small California aerospace company is developing of a new kind of suborbital space plane, a fully reusable, rocket-powered craft designed to make space tourism for the everyman a reality.

For more than 10 years, a number of private aerospace entrepreneurs have been chasing after the dream of a fully reusable rocket, one that would not burn up in space and could be refueled easily and quickly, much like an airplane.

Lynx rocketThe company, Xcor Aerospace of Mojave, Calif., said that the two-seat Lynx, which is about the size of a small plane, will tentatively launch in 2010 and will be capable of flying several times a day.

Xcor said it intends to stick to building spaceships, and that another company would operate the Lynx, establish prices and handle packages and reservations.

The Virgin Galactic flight will reach heights in excess of 77 miles, while the Lynx will come up 25 miles short of the 62 miles identified as the edge of space.

Test flights of the Lynx will take place at the Mojave Air and Space Port, an FAA-licensed inland spaceport. The test pilot is former pilot astronaut and Space Shuttle commander Rick Searfoss.

Xcor, founded in 1999, has spent nine years developing reusable, non-toxic, rocket-propulsion systems. In 2007, Xcor won a contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory to design a rocket-powered vehicle.