Space travel for the rest of us is a bit closer to reality. A firm called Astrium is showing off plans for a four-passenger jet that is designed to take off from a conventional runway, rocket 62 miles straight up and return.
That's high enough to give you five minutes of weightlessness at the top. You'll drink in the view from 15 huge windows on the top, sides and bottom of the spacecraft.
Two jet engines take it up about 7.4 miles at which point a rocket engine thrusts this baby straight up to the edge of space in minutes. Pilots will use Space Shuttle-like thrusters to maneuver up there. The jet engines will restart once the plane returns to the atmosphere.
Want a ticket to ride? Better bring your checkbook — each flight will cost at least $200,000. (A trip on a Russian Soyuz runs $25 million, but it takes you all the way to the International Space Station.) Book early, too. Astrium plans to be flying by 2012.
See video of the space plane in action by following the link below.
— Charlie White
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SPACE PLANE VIDEO
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