The SpaceShipTwo space tourism vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic is expected to fly into space this year during testing with commercial operations to commence “not too long after,” the company said Tuesday. Virgin Galactic is finalizing customer options and says there will be different price ranges for different experiences. Some 580 customers ranging in age from 18 to more than 90 years of age have given the company more than $70 million in deposits for future flights. While Virgin Galactic seems to be on pace to become the first enterprise to offer a space tourism service, XCOR may not be far behind and aims to be far more affordable.
At least 275 people have signed up for paid flights aboard XCOR’s Lynx spacecraft, a two-person vehicle that aims to deliver brief space flights for a pilot and one passenger, sometime in 2014. The company created competitive buzz when AXE (a personal care product company) announced in January that it would select 22 people as contest winners to fly aboard Lynx flights. (The contest ended in February.) Virgin Galactic hopes to operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico selling seats aboard its six-passenger vehicle for $200,000 each. XCOR’s Lynx flights aim to operate from the Caribbean island of Curacoa, flying passengers for $95,000, one at a time. Lynx is a horizontal takeoff and horizontal landing vehicle that uses reusable rocket propulsion to depart from a runway. XCOR says flights in the Lynx will last roughly one-half hour, reaching altitudes of 330,000 feet and including about six minutes of weightlessness.
