Aircraft
EADS eager to enter the space tourism market
EADS Astrium’s plans to move into the space tourism market, revealed last week to a VIP audience and represented here by a full-scale mockup of a hybrid sp

EADS Astrium’s plans to move into the space tourism market, revealed last week to a VIP audience and represented here by a full-scale mockup of a hybrid spaceplane’s forward fuselage and its business-jet-like cabin, depend on raising money from the private sector.

Rides, including three minutes of weightlessness at an altitude of 330,000 feet, are likely to cost upward of $200,0000. And if only the rich will be able to enjoy the experience, they will also have to come up with the estimated $1.35 billion it will cost to develop, Astrium CEO François Auque said Friday.