FYI,

"2-seat Rocket Planned for Space Tourism"
Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080326/ap_on_sc/space_tourism_7;_ylt=As3L
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: A California aerospace company plans to enter the space tourism
: industry with a two-seat rocket ship capable of suborbital flights
: to altitudes more than 37 miles above the Earth.

: The Lynx, about the size of a small private plane, is expected to
: begin flying in 2010, according to developer Xcor Aerospace, which
: planned to release details of the design at a news conference
: Wednesday.

: The company also said that, pending the outcome of negotiations,
: the Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded it a research
: contract to develop and test features of the Lynx. No details were
: released.

: Xcor's announcement comes two months after aerospace designer Burt
: Rutan and billionaire Richard Branson unveiled a model of
: SpaceShipTwo, which is being built for Branson's Virgin Galactic
: space tourism company and may begin test flights this year.

: Xcor intends to be a spaceship builder, with another company
: operating the Lynx and setting prices.

: The Lynx is designed to take off from a runway like a normal plane,
: reach a top speed of Mach 2 and an altitude of 200,000 feet, then
: descend in a circling glide to a runway landing.

: Shaped something like a bulked-up version of the Rutan-designed
: Long-EZ homebuilt aircraft, its wings will be located toward the
: rear of the fuselage, with vertical winglets at the tips.

: Powered by clean-burning, fully reuseable, liquid-fuel engines, the
: Lynx is expected to be capable of making several flights a day,
: Xcor said.

: "We have designed this vehicle to operate much like a commercial
: aircraft," Xcor Chief Executive Officer Jeff Greason said in a
: statement.

: Greason said the Lynx will provide affordable access to space for
: individuals and researchers, and future versions will offer
: improved capabilities for research and commercial uses.

: Xcor has spent nine years developing rocket engines in a facility
: down the flightline from Rutan's Scaled Composites LLC at the
: Mojave Airport north of Los Angeles. It has built and flown two
: rocket-powered aircraft.

: SpaceShipTwo is being developed on the success of SpaceShipOne,
: which in 2004 became the first privately funded, manned rocket to
: reach space, making three flights to altitudes between 62 miles and
: 69 miles and winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

: Powered by a hybrid engine — the gas nitrous oxide combined with
: rubber as a solid fuel — SpaceShipTwo will be flown by two pilots
: and carry up to six passengers who will pay about $200,000 apiece
: for the ride.

: Like its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will be taken aloft by a carrier
: airplane and then released before firing its rocket engine. Virgin
: Galactic says passengers will experience about 4 1/2 minutes of
: weightlessness and will be able to unbuckle themselves to float in
: the cabin before returning to Earth as an unpowered glider.

: Xcor's Lynx also is intended to return as a glider but with the
: capability of restarting its engine if needed.

Mark Reiff