Private Space Plane Ready for Takeoff

The lightweight rocket plane called SpaceShipOne is set to launch from its special carrier aircraft Monday over the Mojave Desert for a test flight.

If successful, the plane will reach the edges of space with a single pilot, a prelude to a flight later with three people that will be eligible for the $10 million award from the X-Prize Foundation.

To win the plane must be the first to carry three people at least 62.5 miles high and then do it again two weeks later, the Houston Chronicle reported.

At least as big an incentive is the promise of a $1 billion-a-year market for private space travel, evidenced by the 100 $98,000 reservations a company called Space Adventures is already holding for suborbital recreational travel.

SpaceShipOne, which looks like a giant shuttlecock with portholes, was built by designer Burt Rutan’s company Scaled Composites, financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.