XCOR Makes a Rocket-Powered Touch-and-Go

wronkiew writes "XCOR Aerospace made a touch-and-go with their experimental rocket powered airplane (see their announcement). The pilot was Dick Rutan, of Voyager fame. Aviation enthusiasts may be familiar with the touch-and-go, but for the uninitiated, this maneuver involves landing an airplane and then taking off again while still on the runway. Note that other rocket-powered vehicles require that the engine be dismantled before they are flown again. While their craft is not exactly a spaceship, it is good to hear of some progress in rocketplanes since the demise of the X-33."

Comments

Re:Space next?

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Mainly at the moment I believe its a showcase for their engines and expertise, they are expert rocket engineers. Also, rocket engines have an undeserved reputation for unreliability, so they have a point to make there. They've run rocket engines in a conference center right infront of people before, it has safety features that mean it won't blowup, and if they fail, they have kevlar containment features to catch the bits.

I'm sure these particular engineers would be able to reach orbit if they had sufficient funds- they used to work at Rotary Rocket.