XCOR – One of Mojave's Space Companies

CalPilots

XCOR SPace Craft(Photo Credit: XCOR)Outer space just seems a bit closer these days. Just weeks after Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner awed the world with a stratospheric skydive, a California aerospace firm is hoping send even more people to the edge of space with a hypersonic aircraft capable of cruising at 3.5 times the speed of sound.

Mojave-based XCOR is currently busy constructing the “Lynx,” a two-seater commercial craft supposedly capable of cruising 62 miles above the Earth’s surface at speeds of more than 2,500 miles per hour.”I’m excited as hell,” XCOR Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson told ABC News. “It’s going to be the most exciting suborbital space flight you will ever take.”

The ride, the entirety of which takes about 30 to 45 minutes, consists of a rocket-powered ascent, several minutes of microgravity coasting near the edge of space, re-entry and a gliding landing similar to that of a space shuttle.

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