XCOR's Lynx aims to enter space tourism business in 2010
By Darren Murph 
posted March 26th 2008 11:25AM
posted March 26th 2008 11:25AM
[Via NewScientist]
posted March 26th 2008 11:25AM
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$65'000 can sound too much but it's fairly low to the actual +$1'000'000 ticket.
people don't really want to go into "Space" so much as they want to land on other planets or moons.
They want to experience WEIGHTLESSNESS so they can have fun doing silly things in Zero G's.
What they should do is build more Vomit Comets.
@Flashpoint:
Think of how safe a million Vomit Comets would be dropping through the air at terminal velocity all around you.
Falling at terminal velocity does not create relative weightlessness. Flying in a controlled parabolic arc does.
Well 64,000 doesn't sound bad when you compare it with a hummer H2. Same prices really.
The hummers usually last longer than 25 seconds though.
So does this.... 25 minutes. :)
Vesh,
UKNigel is right.
Well, depending on the Hummer.
;)
That looks like the USAF X-20 Dyna-Soar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-20_Dyna-Soar
As long as I can one day fly myself into space, I'll be happy.
I don't know about these space tourism trips. They all seem to just barely reach zero gravity and then immediately return to Earth. If I'm gonna pay the money (which I hope to before I die), I want to spend a couple of hours in ZG to take in the sights and experience.
I agree. They barely take you out of space and only for a few minutes if not seconds too. For the price, they should send a bit higher atleast. But maybe this will breakdown and we'll die. That's probably why they don't send us very high
Going higher/longer isn't an option on craft of this size with the rocket technology available. The shuttle is strapped to a space bazooka for a reason. It takes incredible amounts of power to get out of the gravity well - every mile gained is a huge expenditure in energy.
My wife thinks it would be "retarded" to spend that kind of money for a few minutes in space. Girls just don't get it apparently.
Beam me up...
Think Battlestar Galactica
Canaveral, this is Farscape One. I am free and flying.
looks a little like Crichton's spaceship from the farscape show
It looks like a cartoon coyote.
Have to remember this is just the Beginning, just like with the first air-craft they did not go very far and you did it at your own risk. By 2020, there will be a Hilton's, and Marriotts dotting your family weekend to Disney Land New Tycoman City on the Moon.
Looks more like a Puma.
"Didn't I tell you to stop making up animals?"
Look's like Billy Blaze's Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket...
http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Bean-with-Bacon_Megarocket
There is no way that little thing can carry enough fuel to get itself and two passengers up from sea level to 61 km.
Cut the price down to a third and I might think about a trip like that as a retirement day gift to myself! A few more decades? That might be a reality!
Can I just say that the faceted glass atrium over the cockpit inspires loads of confidence! Bit a trivia, before spaceships, the main structural engineer built small domestic greenhouses.
I agree. All those corners are high-stress points. I hope this is just a concept image. In contrast, spaceship-one's windows are small and round, for good reason.
Yep. No way that is structurally feasible! Also if I'm gonna spend that much money on anything I want it to LOOK cool! Seriously! C'mon guys. You're getting to make a real spaceship for gawds sake! There is plenty of great reference in movies and TV! Sort it!
It will be interesting to see how these space startups all pan out...
It's no mystery: the estimated price is $100,000 per ticket. See the Wall Street Journal article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120649603238064447.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
I wonder what "cargo" you would carry in this thing?
Hmm... You could fly 100 kilos of cocaine or marijuana "over the radar".
But will it have a zero gravity toilet with inscrutably small backlit instructions?
This is more extravagant thrill ride than true space tourism. We need somewhere to go besides back down.
... and to your left you'll see a rock, and to your right, another rock,... and if you look straight ahead its an even bigger space rock
Space-shmace. I just want to be able to go to Paris for lunch...
Am I the only one who thinks the article is about the browser lynx?
Looks cool but too short though..