Space partners plan flights in 2007

A new venture, drawing upon a Canadian retooling of 60-year-old rocket technology and fresh funding from a former backer of Russia's Mir space station, on Tuesday announced plans to start launching paying passengers into outer space by mid-2007.

The new company, called PlanetSpace, is a 50-50 venture involving Canadian Arrow, one of last year's leading contenders in the X Prize space race, and Chirinjeev Kathuria, an Indian-American entrepreneur who put millions of dollars into an effort to extend Mir's life five years ago.  PlanetSpace's plans were detailed Tuesday at Canadian Arrow's space center in London, Ontario.

Kathuria, a physician who made his fortune in a series of businesses ranging from medical technology to Internet and telecom services, ran for the U.S. Senate in Illinois as a Republican last year but failed to win the nomination.  He recently announced his candidacy for Illinois lieutenant governor in the 2006 election.

During his Senate run, Kathuria's net worth was reported at $30 million to $100 million.  On Monday, Kathuria declined to say how much he was investing in PlanetSpace but told MSNBC.com it would be "enough to complete the vehicle" that Canadian Arrow has been building.

The Canadian arrow rocket is based on the V-2 rocket that was developed by the Nazis during World War II, then adapted after the war by the Soviets and the Americans with the aid of German engineers.  Canadian Arrow didn't finish developing their rocket in time to try for the $10 million X Prize, but it did conduct a drop test of its crew capsule last August.

At that time, team leader Geoff Sheerin was quoted as saying he needed $2 million to get the rocket to the launch pad for its maiden flight.  Since then, the team has continued testing its V-2-inspired rocket engine.  This month, the liquid-propellant engine was run up to 50,000 pounds of thrust, essentially achieving its target for actual spaceflights, Sheerin told MSNBC.com.

"We expect to be finishing the Canadian Arrow in 11 to 12 months," he said.  "In 18 months, we expect it to have flown manned flights."

Plans for future flights
The first flights would be piloted by Canadian Arrow's six-person astronaut team, and PlanetSpace intends to make spaceflights available to the public within 24 months, Sheerin said.

Canadian Arrow Canadian Arrow's Geoff Sheerin announces the selection of the rocket's astronaut team in 2003.

Fares for a suborbital spaceflight would start at $250,000, which would include 14 days of training, according to a PlanetSpace fact sheet.

In the beginning, each flight would carry two passengers and a pilot, Sheerin said. The V-2 rocket would be launched from a Canadian site, most likely in the Great Lakes region.  After liftoff, the rocket would reach a maximum velocity of four times the speed of sound, with passengers experiencing 4 to 5 G's — more acceleration than a shuttle astronaut would feel on a typical flight.

The flight profile calls for the rocket to coast to a maximum height of 70 miles (112 kilometers), giving the passengers a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the curving earth with a black sky above.  On the way down, the crew capsule would separate from the rest of the rocket and parachute down to a water landing.  The complete flight is expected to last 15 minutes.

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