Posted: Fri, Dec 18 5:54 AM ET (1054 GMT)
Suborbital vehicle developer XCOR Aerospace announced Thursday that it has won a contract to provide suborbital flight services for a South Korean organization. XCOR Aerospace said that Yecheon Astro Space Center had agreed to a "wet lease" of a Lynx Mark 2 vehicle, with XCOR providing and operating the vehicle for space tourism and other missions. The deal is valued at $30 million, with Yecheon forming a "broad coalition" of regional and national organizations to fund the project. The deal would require XCOR to get export control approvals from the US government, and South Korea to establish an appropriate regulatory framework for commercial suborbital flights.

Related Links:

•  Wall Street Journal article
•  MSNBC article
•  AP article
•  XCOR Aerospace press release

Posted: Tue, Dec 8 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT)
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic formally unveiled its suborbital spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, at an event Monday in California. The first SpaceShipTwo, christened VSS Enterprise, was rolled out attached to its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft during a ceremony at Mojave Airport north of Los Angeles. The spacecraft, capable of carrying six passengers and two pilots to an altitude of over 100 kilometers, is scheduled to begin test flights in the near future and enter commercial service no sooner than early 2011. About 800 invited guests and press attended the event, including the governors of California and New Mexico. The post-rollout celebration ended early when high winds forced organizers to evacuate guests from tents erected for the event on one of the airport's runways.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  MSNBC article
•  CBS News/Spaceflight Now article
•  AP article
•  Virgin Galactic press release

Soyuz returns to Earth
Posted: Sun, Oct 11 9:15 AM ET (1315 GMT)
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two ISS crew members and a space tourist returned to Earth early Sunday. The Soyuz TMA-14 capsule landed at 12:...

Soyuz docks with ISS
Posted: Fri, Oct 2 10:48 AM ET (1448 GMT)
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two new ISS crew members and a space tourist docked with the space station early Friday. The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft...

Soyuz launches ISS crew, space tourist
Posted: Wed, Sep 30 5:21 AM ET (0921 GMT)
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two ISS crew members and a space tourist lifted off early Wednesday. A Soyuz rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft...