 XCOR Aerospace |
Click for video: The Lynx Mark I rocket plane, shown in this artist’s conception, would serve as a test bed for a higher-flying Lynx Mark II. Click on the image to watch a video from XCOR’s March 2008 announcement about the Lynx. |
XCOR Aerospace and Yecheon Astro Space Center today announced a deal that would eventually provide rides to the edge of outer space from South Korea, in a rocket plane made in the U.S.A.
The $30 million project calls for the development of a suborbital spaceport at Yecheon, which would serve as the Asian base of operations for California-based XCOR’s Lynx Mark II rocket plane. Today’s announcement didn’t provide a flight timetable, but if XCOR sticks to its hoped-for schedule, the first Mark II plane could be flying in the 2012-2013 time frame.
The deal is dependent on approvals from the U.S. government for export arrangements, as well as from the South Korean government for launch operations.
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