Researchers working on aircraft that would send tourists out into space faster than the speed of sound.

The ultimate adventure ride could be coming soon to an airport near you.  It's called "Skylon" and the special aircraft is being developed for commercial use to carry tourists out into space within the next ten years. 

Skylon would take off from a standard airport runway and travel at more than five times the speed of sound, according to the Telegraph and Daily Mail. The revolutionary aircraft was developed by Reaction Engines, with support from the newUK space agency. 

The 270 foot-long spaceplane is unpiloted, has no external rockets, and has two engines that use hydrogen and oxygen to propel it more than 18 miles out of the Earth's atmosphere.  

The propulsion and attitude control are provided using computer systems while in orbit.  The engine uses the propulsion to reach the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere before switching to rocket power.

The aircraft – which can can remain operational in orbit for up to seven days – would take off from an airport, fly out into orbit, and then land on the runway. The craft is expected to carry up to 24 passengers into space at a time, revolutionize space travel, and cut costs. 

The reusable spaceplane is intended to provide inexpensive and reliable access to space within a decade.  

"Access to space is extraordinarily expensive, yet there’s no law of physics that says it has to be that way," said Technical Director and one of the founders of Reaction Engines, Richard Varvill. "We just need to prove it’s viable. The simple truth is that the Earth is part of a much bigger system."

In the future, Skylon could be used in place of NASA's Space Shuttle to transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station.

http://www.dailytech.com/UK+to+RollOut+Skylon+Space+Plane+by+2020+/article19658.htm

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This sounds VERY VERY promising, and as an avid supported of space exploration and eventually mars colonization I love this idea!!!!

if its expensive it will pull a ps3.

"In the future, Skylon could be used in place of NASA's Space Shuttle to transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station."

That quote is funny considering that the Shuttles are about to be decommisioned anyways and Russia/EU will do all the heavy lifting until this and other commercialized transport vehicles are finalized. Though, I am pretty sure there are at least two other US companies that will have a transport vehicle sooner than 2020.

How about we build stuff worth visiting in space first and set up colonies before we do the commercialism aspect?

Still, it sounds cool.

Not just 2 american

but Virgin (UK company) plans to have one out by 2015

Ah, virgin was one of the companies I was thinking of; didn't know it was UK. So the other US company is like skyone or something. I'd have to research it if I cared that much.

I want to see a real spacecraft that can take off and actually travel in space with no issues. Not these hybrid rocket-planes that just barely reach orbit.

Something that can take off, go to space, tag moon, land and then repeat within an hour or so if desired.

do want, but I probably won't have anywhere near the amount of money needed...

YEah Vrigin is British.....owned by Sir Richard Branson, a very famous entrepreneur. 

And Spaceone is the US company

And I agree with your last line, but I think we're a while away from that unless space becoems comercialised quickly and corporations feel research into new technologies is justified.

If our rate of space research had stayed at the levels it was in the days when everyone wanted to land a man on the moon, your idea of that dream spaceship would be a reality by now. But obviously research and funding was cut down for the space programme! 

Cutting of funding is fair enough, I can see the US had other priorities then and making such spaceships we see in movies didn't serve any purpose especially cus we haven't found another world thats habitable for us nor have we found rare, valuable minerals or anything on other planets....yet.

Truthfully, I think at least the US has always had a big portion of military spending in a real space craft. I just think it is still secret as there is no military need to demonstrate is capabilities as once it is shown other nations will focus on copying it

Granted, this is just conspiracy theory type stuff, but I think it make sense based on how the US does things.

The Virgin Galactic one is going to cost $10,000 per ticket

so around £6000 for me

Believe it or not I started saving up for it a year back!