XCOR Unveils New Suborbital Rocketship

An artist's rendition of XCOR Aerospace's Lynx space plane high above the Earth. Roughly the size of a small private airplane, the craft is designed to make several flights a day into a zero-gravity environment.
An artist's rendition of XCOR Aerospace's Lynx space plane high above the Earth. Roughly the size of a small private airplane, the craft is designed to make several flights a day into a zero-gravity environment. (Image credit: Mike Massee/XCOR)

GOLDEN, Colo. — XCOR Aerospace of Mojave, Calif. unveiled

The Lynx is being designed

Lynx is roughly the size of

XCOR officials hope to obtain some

"There is a maximum

Details regarding the Lynx

Robust passenger market

Lynx is being built by XCOR Aerospace to thrust the roughly 30-person

"When I look back at

Still, Greason

Dan DeLong,

"It will be just like

XCOR Aerospace was founded in 1999. The

XCOR's test pilot is former shuttle

A larger roadmap

Along with taking tourists

DeLong said XCOR

Lynx is seen by XCOR Aerospace as one piece of a larger roadmap of vehicles

The Lynx 1-class rocket

The government money

Regarding added private

How much money is in the

Mojave Air and Space

Scoping out the Lynx, Greason said, has been underway at XCOR

The testing of Lynx, DeLong said, will take place at the

"It is certainly

The vehicle performance

Both Greason

"Obviously, Virgin

 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Leonard David
Space Insider Columnist

Leonard David is an award-winning space journalist who has been reporting on space activities for more than 50 years. Currently writing as Space.com's Space Insider Columnist among his other projects, Leonard has authored numerous books on space exploration, Mars missions and more, with his latest being "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published in 2019 by National Geographic. He also wrote "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet" released in 2016 by National Geographic. Leonard  has served as a correspondent for SpaceNews, Scientific American and Aerospace America for the AIAA. He was received many awards, including the first Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History in 2015 at the AAS Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium. You can find out Leonard's latest project at his website and on Twitter.