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EADS Astrium rocketed into space tourism with their new Astrium Space Jet, set to launch in 2008. The reveal occured at a VIP event just before the Paris Le Vourget Airshow.
The Astrium Space Jet carries four passengers 100km into space for 3 minutes of zero G hang time. The price: €150,000 to €200,000.
This video acts as a commercial for their new spaceship and space tourism program.
The Astrium space jet will take off and land conventionally from a standard airport using its jet engines. However, once the craft is airborne at an altitude of about 12 km, the rocket engines will be ignited to give sufficient acceleration to reach 100 km. In only 80 seconds the craft will have climbed to 60 km altitude. The highly innovative seats balance themselves to minimize the effects of acceleration and deceleration, ensuring the greatest passenger comfort and safety. The rocket propulsion system is then shut down as the ship’s inertia carries it on to over 100 km, where passengers will become one of the very few to experience zero gravity in space.
(astrium.eads.net)
References: astrium.eads.net
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