Design a Space Ship and Win $10mn

Design a Space Ship and Win 10mn
Revolutionary new experiments spurred by prize money have triggered hopes that space tourism would become a reality in the near future.

Twenty-seven teams from seven countries are in the fray to develop space ships spurred partially by the $10 million in prize money offered by one of the world's richest men, Microsoft co-founder Paul G Allen.

The main contender for the prize is Burt Rutan, whose team has built SpaceShipOne, a stubby rocket plane aboard which it is hoped a human will be put in space for the first time without any government assistance, on June 21.

Rutan built the plane on the 'shuttle cock' principle - go straight up and come down, always pointing in the right direction. He claimed to have spent over $20 million on SpaceShipOne.

Rutan became famous by building a light plane, which travelled around the world without re-fuelling.

Close behind are at least half a dozen others, notably Canada-based Orva Space Corp, developers of the Da Vinci Project. It features a giant, helium-filled balloon that will release a rocket 80,000 feet above the Earth for a burn into sub-orbital space.

President, pilot and co-owner of Orva Space Brian Peeney said Rutan is ahead right now 'but we are feeling very competitive, and we are going to go some time this summer'.