[In_25_words_or_less]

Teams from around the world are vying for the X Prize. It will be awarded to the first team that privately finances, builds and launches a spaceship able to carry three people to 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) altitude, return safely to Earth, then repeat the feat within two weeks.

It pays to finally read a whole article on this. All this time I assumed the plane had to achieve orbit. And it doesn't.

[Monty22]

"It pays to finally read a whole article on this. All this time I assumed the plane had to achieve orbit. And it doesn't."

They'll basically remake the first Alan Shepard Mercury launch.

Private stuff is great and all, but this is about 40 years behind what government can do with research.

Sorry libertarians.