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PARIS (AFP) – European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation" (Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours by around 2050. "I imagine the plane of the future to look like Zehst," EADS' chief technical officer Jean Botti said as the project was announced at Le Bourget airport the day before the start of the Paris International Air Show. The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will take off using normal engines powered by biofuel made from seaweed before switching on its rocket...

NASA is making an unprecedented investment in commercial space transportation services with the hope of creating a competitive market for supply flights to the International Space Station (ISS). Two industry partners will receive a combined total of approximately $500 million to help fund the development of reliable, cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit. The agency is using its Space Act authority to facilitate the demonstration of these new capabilities. NASA signed Space Agreements Aug. 18 with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of El Segundo, Calif., and Rocketplane-Kistler (RpK) of Oklahoma City to develop and demonstrate the vehicles, systems, and operations needed to...

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2006--Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE:ORB - News) will oversee the final development, production and launch operations activities of Rocketplane Kistler's (RpK) K-1 reusable launch vehicle system, the company announced today. RpK's K-1 vehicle was selected last Friday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the space agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program to provide unmanned cargo transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Earlier this summer, Orbital and RpK entered into a strategic relationship that established Orbital as RpK's primary industrial partner in the event the K-1 program was selected by...

Polls Open to Name Racing League’s First Rocket Plane The polls are open to name the first rocket plane slated to compete in a fast-paced across the sky. Organizers of the fledgling Rocket Racing League are holding a naming contest for their premier vehicle – the Mark-1 X Racer – which will be unveiled on Oct. 20 during the 2006 X Prize Cup in Lac Cruces, New Mexico. Ten candidate names have been culled from a list of nearly 2,000 entries submitted to the league since Jan. 30, 2006. Voters can root for their choice by clicking here. The polls...

It is not uncommon for foreign dignitaries to visit Congress or even give an address there. Less common, but certainly not unheard of, are ceremonies for foreign visitors in state legislatures. Still, it was a bit unusual to hear that Japanese officials were recognized on the floor of the Oklahoma State Senate in February. What drew a pair of distinguished Japanese officials to Oklahoma City? The two, Ryojiro Akiba and Kenichi Ito, were recognized for signing up as the first commercial microgravity research users of the state’s spaceport, which will host flights by Rocketplane Ltd. as early as next year....

Aero-News has learned that Rocketplane Limited, Inc. and Kistler Aerospace Corporation have joined forces as a new space transportation team. This team -- to be named Rocketplane Kistler -- is made up of two companies with histories dating back to the start of the entrepreneurial space movement in the early 1990’s. "Dr. George Mueller and the Kistler team have developed a mature and technologically sound design capable of revolutionizing space transportation," said Rocketplane President and CEO George French, Jr. "Rocketplane Kistler has a unique chance of making commercial space viable by reducing the cost to orbit and by building a...

NASA is loaning a rocket engine to Rocketplane Limited, Inc. of Oklahoma City as part of an innovative industry partnership program. The program highlights NASA’s efforts to share advanced aeronautics, space and related technologies with the private sector to use ideas and investments that can lead to new capabilities. NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, and the company signed a Space Act Agreement for use of an RS-88 engine in tests of its Rocketplane XP vehicle for three years. The company will provide NASA with design, test and operational information from the development. The Rocketplane XP is a four-seat, modified Lear...

Rocketplane will conduct a 25-flight atmosphere test programme with its four-seater XP suborbital spaceplane from January 2007 followed by a July maiden launch. The 12.8m (42ft)-long XP is a heavily modified Learjet 25 that will take off and land from a conventional runway. It has a maximum take-off weight of 8,720kg (19,200lb) and a thrust requirement of 36,000lb (160kN). The XP provides 3.5min of weightlessness during its flight. That begins by ascending to 25,000ft using its General Electric CJ610 turbojets, followed by a 3g pull-up for a 70° climb after the ignition of its Rocketdyne RS-88 rocket, which will burn...

MOJAVE, California – XCOR's EZ-Rocket flew into the history books today. The craft made a record-setting point-to-point flight, departing here from the Mojave California Spaceport, gliding to a touchdown at a neighboring airport in California City. The rocket plane was piloted by Dick Rutan, no stranger to milestone-making voyages. In 1986, Rutan was co-pilot on the Voyager airplane that made the first nonstop, around-the-world flight without refueling. The EZ-Rocket is a modified Long-EZ homebuilt aircraft. The vehicle is propelled by twin 400-pound thrust, regeneratively cooled rocket engines and fueled by isopropyl alcohol and liquid oxygen. The EZ-Rocket is able to...

SpaceShot is proud to announce a launch team of internationally recognized experts to create a new internet game of skill. The path-breaking tournament will be awarding suborbital spaceflights on the Rocketplane XP. Play starts this autumn to award flights taking place in 2007. SpaceShot will finally achieve the decades-long goal of awarding space trips to people paying under five dollars. "The team we have assembled represents the best in the industry. These are American visionaries. Together, we will bring spaceflight to people of all means," announced SpaceShot founder Dr. Sam Dinkin. "Space is not just for the wealthy!

Oklahoma City, 10/7/05 – Rocketplane Limited, Inc. announces a new alliance with SpaceShot, Inc. to award Rocketplane spaceflights as prizes in upcoming SpaceShot online skill game tournaments. “Space travel should not just be for the wealthy and government astronauts,” announced Sam Dinkin, CEO of SpaceShot, Inc. “For less than $5 and some skill, anyone could be the first on their block to win a trip to space!”

An Oklahoma space-travel company says it is aiming to win the race to put paying passengers on suborbital trips, with commercial flights scheduled to begin by early 2007. "We intend to make it a five-star experience," said David Urie, vice president of Rocketplane Ltd.

Rocketplane has modest goals to achieve passenger service in a flight envelope that was tested 45 years ago with X-15. This will be risky, but the bulk of the challenge will be engineering and economics and no longer science.

[Editor’s Note: The following is the first part of an extended interview between The Space Review columnist Sam Dinkin and David Urie, vice president and program manager at Rocketplane Ltd. Urie is a veteran engineer who has worked on programs ranging from the SR-71 to the X-33/VentureStar. Please read our backgrounder on Urie and Rocketplane for additional information.] The Space Review: All right! So, where did you start out? Before Lockheed, did you go to school somewhere? David Urie: Oh gosh yes, I went to school somewhere. I went to college at University of Kansas. Then I was out of...

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- Reusable spaceplanes that propel ticket-holding passengers to the edge of space are slowly becoming reality. Among several firms literally hammering away at this prospect is Rocketplane Limited, Inc., an Oklahoma corporation. The company is eager to make space travel as safe, convenient, and routine as air transportation, with work ramping up on their Rocketplane XP design. The spaceliner’s first commercial passenger flight is projected to be early 2007. The plan calls for Rocketplane XP to depart from the Oklahoma Spaceport located in Burns Flat and whisk customers skyward to over 60 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth....