EADS Astrium To Develop Spaceplane
Aviation Week

EADS Astrium has disclosed that Singapore will be a partner in its suborbital spaceplane program.

At the Global Space & Technology Convention in Singapore, EADS Astrium executives announced that Singapore will be building a small-scale demonstrator of the spaceplane and may be involved in developing parts for the commercial product. EADS Astrium is also hoping Singapore will ultimately have a fleet of its commercial spaceplanes stationed at Singapore’s Changi Airport.
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Space tourism jet work continues BBC News The plane, which would make short hops above the atmosphere, was announced in 2007 and then almost immediately put on hold because of the global downturn. But Astrium, Europe’s largest space company, says internal development work continues and it will spend a further 10m euros (£9m) on the concept in 2011. “We keep the investment going,” said Astrium CEO François Auque. “We continue […]

William John Cox gives an overview of efforts to develop reusable spaceplanes, including the X-43, X-51 and HTV-3X Blackswift programs.

My friend Clark Lindsey over at Hobby Space points to this story at Space.com concerning the Air Force’s Boeing-built X-37 space plane test vehicle:

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The Space Fellowship has an interview with TAAS Company CEO Robert Tallmage. He describes his company’s plan for an affordable spaceplane that features an escape capsule that can save the crew in the event of an emergency.

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Lockheed Martin conducted another test flight of a winged space vehicle from Spaceport America on Tuesday, LiveScience‘s Leonard David reports. A press release is reproduced below. UPDATE: David reports that the prototype went out of control and was damaged to the point that it cannot be reused. Spaceport America Press Release LAS CRUCES, NM – New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) officials announced a successful launch of a test flight vehicle […]