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I searched around the forums in space/science and technology and was surprised no one has talked about these two space craft which are being developed to bring people into space. There are more of course, but I think these two are viable options which will be available very soon. These two companies are making these spacecraft specifically for bring people (like you and me) into space. The first one I will talk about, which is also my favorite is Lynx. Link 1; Link 2 This spacecraft will be able to take off and land at any major airport. It does not need any extra propulsion, besides its own re-ignitable rockets. Now, anyone who knows about regular rockets knows that they are not re-ignitable. But the difference is that these new rockets use liquid fuel instead of solid fuel (which is what the nasa space shuttle used). This re-ignitable fuel is actually made up of two liquid which mix together. Once they are mixed, you have to use it. It is also very dangerous, but they hope to make it safe and stable. You can already buy tickets for flights which the Lynx through KLM (and more airlines I am sure), which will cost around 100,000 dollars or euros. This is very cheap compared to what it cost to go to space with the space shuttle. People paid around 25 million to go with Nasa. The Lynx can take one person and one pilot, including a micro satellite if they wanted to. These micro satellites will launch from the back of the Lynx into orbit, which the Lynx has reached max altitude of 100,000ft. 100,000m (100km) is the agreed upon border between our atmosphere and space. Technically our atmosphere does not end until about half way the moon. The lynx can take larger macro satellites, but then there can not a passenger. They hope to take about 4 flights a day with this spacecraft. Initially the Lynx will be flown by ex-nasa astronauts. But they believe that any Air-force jet-fighter pilot could fly the Lynx with proper training. The other spacecraft is being built by Virgin Galactic. Link 1 They take a different approach by using an aircraft to bring the spacecraft to 21,000m (70,000ft), then launching the spacecraft from the aircraft to 100,000m (100km). This spacecraft will take more people (around 15 last I heard). This spacecraft will use the traditional solid fuel rockets, which means that on re-entry it will glide down to the runway for a landing. Like the nasa space shuttle did. The tickets for virgin galactic space flights cost around 200,000 dollars or euros and I believe it is possible to buy them now. The aircraft which takes the spacecraft up needs a much longer runway than any airport has. A specially runway and spaceport: Mojave Air and Space Port I'm pretty excited about this, can't wait to fly up to space some day
