California aerospace company unveiling new rocket for space tourism

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Another company plans to get into the space tourism business.

California firm Xcor Aerospace will unveil its design of a two-seat rocket ship that can carry tourists on suborbital flights. The Lynx is about the size of a small private plane and Xcor says it will be capable of reaching altitudes more than 37 miles above the Earth.

The announcement comes two months after aerospace designer Burt Rutan and billionaire Richard Branson unveiled a model of SpaceShipTwo, which is being built for Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism company.

Xcor says the Lynx is designed to take off from a runway like a normal plane, reach a top speed of Mach 2 and an altitude of 200,000 feet, then descend in a circling glide to a runway landing.

It's expected to begin flying in 2010.

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