Race Is on for Commerial Space Flight
May 5 -- Undaunted by the space shuttle tragedy, more than 20 private teams are competing to take the first step toward commercial space flight.
Burt Rutan, who planned and built the first airplane capable of going around the world without stopping, is one of those hard at work on a craft that will move beyond the bounds of Earth.
He says it's high time that the private sector moved into this arena.
"We've left it to NASA for 42 years, OK? And there's been only 241 manned space flights in 42 years," he said in a recent interview.
"I've done this as quickly as I can," he said, "and I'm going to do future things as quickly as I can.
"I've got a lot of gray hair already, and I want to go to the planets."
Rutan is not alone.
Racing Toward a New Industry
Some of the other efforts involve rocket-launched vehicles. Other plans involve space vehicles carried aloft by huge balloons, and still others involve a plane carrying the spacecraft on its belly before launching it on the last leg to suborbit.
Steve Bennett has been test-firing his rocket, the Starchaser, for months and believes he could put a man up in the sky sometime next year.
"If the American space shuttle is a 747 going across the Atlantic, what we're offering is like a short pleasure flight over a city in a helicopter," said Bennett.
He envisions hordes of eager space tourists jumping at the chance to go 62 miles into the wild blue yonder. To Bennett, it's a lucrative prospect.
"There's a whole new industry about to open up. We're going to be at the forefront of that industry."
Geoffrey Sheerin, team leader of the Canadian Arrow project, agrees.
"It's about opening an industry," he said. "It's about the passion to open up space for regular people."
Eyes on the Prize
The idea that only NASA astronauts are able to fly — even in the suborbital heights these teams will attempt — is anathema to the space entrepreneurs.
"We're going to select individuals that would not normally be selected to be astronauts," said Sheerin.
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