Posted by Ray Katz in current, private
Personal spaceflight: Less than 2 years away
Spaceport America: Awaiting spaceships and passengers.
Five years after SpaceShipOne, created by Scaled Composites, won the X Prize—flying a private spaceship on two manned flights within two weeks—the private space industry may be poised for it’s next big step: paying passengers on private spaceships.
Conceding that private spaceflight has taken longer than expected, X Prize founder Peter Diamandis says “as many as three different passenger spaceships will emerge in the next 18 to 24 months and begin flying.”
A private spaceport—Spaceport America in New Mexico—is already built and ready. Virgin Galactic, which will fly a vehicle developed by Scaled Composites and based on SpaceShipOne, will be using the New Mexico facility. Hopefully, very soon…
