XCOR Aerospace is an American
private rocket engine and spaceflight development company based on the Mojave
Spaceport in Mojave, California. XCOR was formed members of the Rotary Rocket
Engine development team in September, 1999. XCOR is headed by Jeff Greason.
XCOR Aerospace is developing the
tourist rocket plane, has tied up with Mumbai based Fortpoint Automotive to woo
more Indians to take its space tours, expected to take off next year. A few
Indians have booked their tickets in a passenger spacecraft that will blast
them into space, 100 km beyond earth’s gravity, to a spot from where one can
see the curvature of our planet, shelling out about Rs 62 Lakh or $100,000.
The idea of space tourism took off
in 2004 when British entrepreneur Richard Branson launched Virgin Galactic to
start a space travel programme. About 800 people including Stephen Hawking, Tom
Hanks, Angelina Jolie, and Kerala based businessman Santosh George Kulangara
have already booked their ticket to board Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two, which
costs $250,000, which is about Rs 1.55 crore.
According to Virgin Galactic, many
Indians have shown interest in its space tour. But it is not clear who will
start commercial operations first, particularly after a SpaceShip Two crashed
in November last during a test flight, bringing a lot of latent apprehensions
to the fore. As part of XCOR move to woo Indians for its space tour programme,
a full scale model of its spacecraft, the Lynx, will be displayed at the Luxury
Festival, organized by Quintessentially Lifestyle Services India in Delhi in
April.
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