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The space tourism firm XCOR Aerospace Inc. announced plans in 2008 to launch its private two-seat Lynx space plane. Lynx was expected to fly paying space tourists to an altitude of about 38 miles above Earth, where passengers would experience 90 seconds of weightlessness. The company first estimated flight tests would begin in 2010, with private flights to follow soon after. Many space tourists bought into XCOR's Lynx model for the chance to briefly experience weightlessness at the edge of space. Having paid XCOR $100,000 for a ticket, customer Nael Hamameh thought his flight would come as early as 2011,...

RocketShip Tours to Sell Rides to Edge of Space Aboard XCOR's Lynx Dec 2 04:00 AM US/Eastern RocketShip Tours Founder Jules Klar says $95,000 price is Proof that Competition is Lowering the Cost of Space Access MOJAVE, Calif., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- A travel entrepreneur who introduced hundreds of thousands of Americans to European travel in the 1960's has taken luxury travel to new heights - the edge of space. Jules Klar, founder of Phoenix, AZ-based RocketShip Tours, has announced that his company will immediately begin selling rides to the edge of space for $95,000 per flight. Participants will fly...

MOJAVE - Following multiple flights by XCOR Aerospace's rocket-powered airplane last week, the Mojave Air and Space Port now holds the unofficial record of more than half the manned rocket-powered vehicle flights in the 21st century. Following the XCOR flights, the facility has accounted for some 59 manned, rocket-powered vehicle flights, suborbital and orbital, or 51.3% of such flights worldwide since Jan. 1, 2001. The worldwide total includes 22 space shuttle flights from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and 15 launches from Russia's Kazakhstan-located facilities, Baikonur, according to company officials. Mojave's total includes SpaceShipOne's three suborbital flights in 2004...

MOJAVE - The typical sounds of jet and piston airplane engines at the Mojave Air and Space Port have been joined in recent weeks by a different kind of flightline noise: the roar and sudden quiet of a rocket engine. XCOR Aerospace has performed a series of flight tests of its second-generation rocket plane designed for the Rocket Racing League, demonstrating its capability to start and stop the engine as well as the airframe's aerobatic potential. The most recent aerial demonstration took place Thursday afternoon. The airplane, a modified Velocity Aircraft kit airplane with a liquid oxygen- and kerosene-fueled rocket...

When XCOR Aerospace last week unveiled the design of its suborbital spacecraft, intended to offer a glimpse of black sky and the Earth below to space tourists, one of those excited about the opportunity to experience what few have before was Esther Dyson. Dyson, of EDventure Holdings, ... is one of the investors who will help make it possible. Dyson is an angel investor, an individual who provides seed money for a young company, typically bridging the gap between self-funding and the later, larger investment by venture capitalists. "She has a knack for finding what's new and different in technology,"...

Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace officially joined the quest for space tourists Wednesday when the company unveiled its suborbital spacecraft, the Lynx. The rocketplane, dubbed the Lynx Mark 1, will carry the pilot and a single passenger to the edge of space, high enough to provide passengers a brief period of weightlessness, "a view of stars and black sky above, letting them look back down on Earth and the thin envelope of atmosphere below," XCOR CEO Jeff Greason said. The Lynx will take off horizontally from a standard airport runway under rocket power and quickly climb to 138,000 feet at speeds reaching...

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...

MOJAVE - Progress on rocket engine technology continues at XCOR Aerospace, as the company this week announced the successful completion of the first round of testing of its new 56-pound thrust rocket engine, the XR-3E17. The new engine is a direct descendant of the company's first "Tea Cart" engine, which debuted in 2000 and has been used as a demonstration model of the company's capabilities. "We needed a more updated engine," said Aleta Jackson, co-founder of the company, which is based at the Mojave Air and Space Port. The new engine provides nearly four times the thrust of the original...

MOJAVE - A Mojave-built rocket engine completed its first test series for NASA under a program to aid the agency's quest to return to the moon, Alliant Techsystems announced Friday. Alliant said it has completed testing of a 7,500-pound-force thrust liquid oxygen-methane workhorse engine. The test series provided valuable insights into LOX-methane engine ignition, startup, shutdown, nominal operation, off-nominal operation and dynamic combustion stability, according to the company. The work was conducted as part of a NASA effort to develop technologies that could be incorporated into a propulsion system for the ascent stage of a lunar lander. "The workhorse engine...

PALMDALE - The people behind Mojave-based XCOR want to go into space, but to get there they need to bring adventure tourists with them, one of the company's founders said Tuesday. XCOR, comprised of a handful of workers, has visions of creating a reusable spacecraft that will take a pilot and a passenger 100 miles above Earth, giving the high-flying tourist a view of the black sky of space and three minutes of weightlessness. The company envisions being able to conduct five or six such flights a day at a rate of about $20,000 per passenger, said Aleta Jackson, one...

Rocket builder XCOR Aerospace has made Inc. magazine's list of the top 500 fastest-growing private businesses. The Mojave-based company came in at No. 446 on the list, which ranks companies based on the percentage increase of revenue over a three-year period. XCOR, founded in 1999, has seen its revenue grow 646% from 2003 to 2006. "The men and women of XCOR Aerospace are proud that their efforts have earned the company a spot on the prestigious Inc. 500 list," said Jeff Greason, founder and company president. "It shows we are moving in the direction we have been aiming for all...

As an investment opportunity this plan is way out there. It’s questionable, too, in terms of the planet’s future well being. An Associated Press article this week reported that a Boston-area investment group, Boston Harbor Angels, which consists of fat cats with money to spare, is teaming up with an outfit called XCOR Aerospace of Mojave to launch a space tourism venture. According to the AP, XCOR is building a “reusable suborbital vehicle named Xerus” and if all goes as planned, travelers aboard the Xerus would “experience up to 3 minutes of weightlessness some 62 miles about Earth.” The rocket...

LOS ANGELES -- Just a few years ago, the idea of bankrolling starry-eyed ventures to fly ordinary people into space was laughed off as science fiction. Now some investors are betting on space tourism as the next big thing. The infant industry got a boost in June when a Boston-area investment group backed a private rocket company developing a spaceship that will take off and land like an airplane. The deal between Boston Harbor Angels and XCOR Aerospace, believed to be the first investment by a group of angel investors in a commercial launch company, raised hopes that others will...

MOJAVE - XCOR Aerospace has been awarded a nearly $100,000 contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory to aid in development of a rocket-powered vehicle the service may use as a technology flight test platform. The Small Business Innovative Research contract is worth $99,935 for Phase I, with additional funding in a Phase II contract possible in nine months or so. The contract award reflects the Air Force Research Laboratory's interest in reaching out to the emerging entrepreneurial space industry, said Jeff Ponable , a project manager in the laboratory's Air Vehicle Directorate. The service is seeking a flight test...

MOJAVE - XCOR Aerospace has begun test-firing its 7,500-pound-thrust methane-fueled engine, a prototype of one intended for NASA's next-generation spacecraft. The Mojave-based company is partnered with Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, in the $10.4 million contract for the first phase of developing a rocket engine that runs on liquid oxygen and liquid methane, nontoxic fuels that could help lower the overall cost of spaceflight. XCOR's engine successfully has completed six short-duration test firings at the test site on the northeast end of Mojave Airport, using a new test stand that can handle up to 40,000 pounds of thrust, said Rich Pournelle,...

XCOR Aerospace Friday announced a milestone in its development of a rocket engine to power the racing aircraft of the Rocket Racing League, a NASCAR-like series of aerial races planned to begin next year. The Mojave-based rocket-engine company completed testing the design of the 1,500 pound-thrust engine, powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene. The test-firings, using a test stand, were completed at XCOR's facility at the Mojave Airport. "We have performed multiple runs of increasing duration," said XCOR CEO Jeff Greason. "The requirements are for a reliable and robust engine. We are on the right track with the workhorse engine...

MOJAVE - XCOR Aerospace will help develop a rocket engine for NASA's next manned spacecraft under a multimillion-dollar contract announced Tuesday. Mojave-based XCOR is teamed with Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, for the first phase of developing a rocket engine that runs on liquid oxygen and liquid methane, nontoxic fuels that could help lower the overall cost of spaceflight. XCOR's portion of the $10.4 million contract is $3.3 million, the biggest government contract the company has had to date, CEO Jeff Greason said. "We were a significant part of this team," he said. "We are very excited about the opportunity to...

MOJAVE, Calif., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- XCOR Aerospace announced today successful testing of its new thermoplastic fluoropolymer composite material. NASA White Sands Test Facility located in southwest New Mexico conducted ignition and oxygen compatibility testing of XCOR's material. "We have been researching this technology since early 2004, and we continue to develop under NASA contract for composite liquid oxygen (LOX) tanks," said XCOR's President, Jeff Greason. "Shortly after NASA engaged XCOR on this project, we were able to demonstrate materials that were far superior to initial specifications. Indeed, a NASA test lab failed to make it burn in 100% oxygen...

MOJAVE - XCOR Aerospace continues to ride the cutting edge of space technology as it works on the preliminary design for its Xerus suborbital spacecraft. The Mojave-based rocket company announced it will use a sophisticated computer-analysis software program, running on a supercomputer, during the preliminary design phase for Xerus. XCOR is developing the Xerus spacecraft to take commercial passengers to the edge of space as part of the emerging commercial space tourism industry. This kind of high-powered computer analysis previously was only available for the large aerospace defense firms, said Rich Pournelle , XCOR's director of business development. "Now those...

MOJAVE - Calling it "the shortest long-distance flight in history," aviator Dick Rutan entered the record books again Saturday, this time for a rocket plane flight from Mojave to California City. Rutan - who already holds numerous distance and speed records, including the non-stop, round-the world Voyager flight 19 years ago - piloted XCOR Aerospace's EZ-Rocket. Rutan also was the first to test the aircraft when the rocket engine demonstrator debuted in 2001. The world's first privately built, rocket-powered aircraft, the EZ-Rocket is a Long-EZ kit plane modified with twin 400-pound thrust rocket engines instead of the usual engine and...