Benicia, CA (SXC PR) — Juliet Vercelli-CTC, LS in Benicia, CA recently signed an agreement as a Certified Reseller for Space Expedition Corporation. Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) , a Netherlands company general sales agent for XCOR Aerospace, Inc.
This is an exciting adventure as SXC will begin commercial flights in 2014. The operations will take place in a special spaceport both on the Dutch island of Curacao and the Mojave Desert, CA.
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Space Expedition Curacao has hired Mojave Air & Space Port CEO and General Manager Stu Witt to advise the Dutch company on spaceport operations and procedures.
During a meeting on Tuesday, the East Kern Airport District Board of Directors approved moving ahead with an agreement under which Witt would advise the company, which plans to begin operating XCOR’s Lynx suborbital vehicle out of the Caribbean island of Curacao in 2014.
Witt said his duties would be to serve on an advisory board and to attended a couple of meetings per year. Witt would be paid for his time and reimbursed for expenses, with money flowing to EKAD and not to him.
Witt revealed that in addition to Curacao, SXC is looking to fly Lynx vehicles from the Netherlands and possibly from Mojave as well. The company also is in negotiations with other possible locations, he added.
BOSTON, Apr 25, 2012 (Metro PR) — Metro, Boston’s #1 daily newspaper, is proud to announce that local reader Justin Dowd from Worcester, MA, has won Metro’s Race for Space, a global competition to select one Metro reader to travel into space.
Justin, 22, beat hundreds of thousands of candidates across the world to win a the coveted once-in-a-lifetime ticket on board XCOR Lynx, the first generation rocket-powered aircraft currently being built by leading spaceflight company SXC (Space Expedition Curacao).
Metro, the leading free daily in the US, became the first newspaper to offer a reader the chance to visit space when it launched its ‘Race for Space’ competition in March.
SXC PR — In order to maximize safety and comfort for our Future Astronauts solid medical support is essential. Therefore, in February 2012 SXC has selected the team of Wings of Care to form the independent medical advisory board and provide support for SXC and the Future Astronauts throughout the screening, training and spaceflight phases. Wings of care, a Dutch organization with aerospace medical expertise, has developed a tailor made procedure to conduct the medical screening for SXC.
BERLIN (SXC PR) — SXC announces that its first German ticket to space was sold to Dr. Jos Gal, a dentist, consultant and adventurer from Heidelberg. The forty-year old German earned himself a reputation as a top dentist and is proud to be the first German to go into space with SXC.
SXC PR — Beginning on the 12th of March 2012 our first astronaut training missions took place in Soesterberg and Eelde in The Netherlands. We did trainings in the unique Desdemona simulator and in the L-39 Albatross Jet.
(more…)
Metro is sending one lucky reader into space, and it could be you! Just describe why you are perfectly suited for the mission and then gather as many votes as possible via Facebook or other social media.
Prizes
1. Spaceflight from the SXC Space Mission in Curacao
This includes a return flight to Curacao, and three nights in a five-star hotel.
BASEL, March 6, 2012 (SXC PR) – Luminox, the watch brand that pioneered the use of self-powered illumination in timepieces, is announcing a partnership with commercial spaceliner SXC during Baselworld, from March 8 to March 15, 2012.
Luminox watches have been requested and supplied to a long list of special forces that work in the SEA, AIR and LAND, and now adds a 4th dimension – SPACE. Luminox has been part of the Essential Gear by U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Air Force Stealth Pilots, SWAT teams, Police and rescue organizations around the world, and Underwater explorers, and now will be worn by the Astronauts (and passengers) of the SXC Spaceships as a new series of special timepieces are being developed that can withstand the incredible G-Forces and weightlessness encountered in spaceflights.
Amsterdam (SXC PR) – Today, Space Expedition Curacao announces the first Australian to be travelling into space with them: 84 year old Melbourne businessman Nigel Peck AM (Order of Australia). The founder of NHP Electrical Engineering Products Pty Ltd, a manufacturing and distribution company employing 900 people, will be among the first , and most likely eldest, Australian astronauts ever. Peck will become part of both space and Australian history.
Nigel Peck is a well-known Australian businessman and yachtsman, who, despite his respectable age of 84, remains active in business, charity and travel. He is excited to be the first Australian astronaut. He is admiring earth and loves all adventures on earth as again demonstrated by his visit this month to the South Pole after an earlier expedition to the North Pole! Besides this he declares a love of aviation that dates back to his younger years.
UPDATE: Sir Richard is not taking the competition very seriously — for now. ABC News reports that”Branson boasted this week that it will be at least five years before Virgin Galactic has serious rivals in the commercial space tourism race.”
In all that was going on during the Spaceport America dedication on Monday, I never had the chance to interview Richard Branson. But, apparently some people did. And it appears that Sir Richard is hearing some footsteps:
“We’re the only one with a system that has actually gone to space, and we’re the only one with a spaceport facility like this,” Branson said. “People need to think about that before they pay $100,000 to go to South America.”
Unless Hugo Chavez has some secret space plane project that only he and Branson know about, this could only be a reference to Space Expedition Curacao, which plans to begin commercial suborbital space tourism flights from the Caribbean island using XCOR’s Lynx vehicle sometime in 2014. Those flights will actually cost $95,000 per seat, but close enough.
Space Expedition Curacao’s Michiel Mol talks with CNN about space tourism flights aboard XCOR’s Lynx space plane.
XCOR PR — September 19, 2011, Mojave CA, USA and Curaçao: Space Expedition Curaçao (SXC) and XCOR Aerospace, Inc. jointly announced today the completion of a multi-million dollar transaction that secures the wet lease of production Lynx tail number two for operation on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, pending export licensing action.
“Since we signed the initial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October of 2010, XCOR and SXC have worked diligently towards completing the Definitive Agreement,” explained XCOR CEO Jeff Greason. “Now that the ink is dry and the check has cleared we can proceed at full pace to begin operations in Curaçao in 2014.”
[Editor’s Note: The press release’s headline say this is an “eight figure” deal, meaning at least $10 million. To put this in perspective, Greason recently said that XCOR had spent $27 million since it was founded 12 years ago this month. XCOR’s cost for producing the first Lynx prototype is a tiny fraction of the $400 million that Virgin Galactic is spending on WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles. XCOR will begin Lynx test flights next fall.]
While XCOR has been busy building its first Lynx spacecraft in Mojave this summer, things have been ramped up in another hot spot, Curacao, where the plan for commercial suborbital space flights in 2014 is coming together.
Space Expedition Curacao (formerly Space Experience Curacao) has sold 34 tickets and expects to reach 50 sales by the end of the year. Ticket holders include Victoria’s Secret model Doutzen Kroes, four-time DJ of the Year Armin van Buuren, and San Francisco Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulen. Charles Lurio of The Lurio Report says that total ticket sales for Lynx Mark I and II flights are approaching 100.
Lurio also reports that SXC and XCOR have finalized the wet lease that will allow the Lynx March II production vehicle to fly from the Caribbean island.
