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Spaceplane: Suborbital Vehicle for Space Tourism & Science
The vehicle, being developed by Airbus, Europe's biggest aerospace manufacturer, is intended to carry four passengers as high as 100 kilometers (62 miles) by taking off and landing at a conventional airport.
The vehicle will operate in between the usual altitude of airplanes and satellites, Airbus stated, which will open up a different market. The space plane could be used as a "point-to-point" transfer service or instead do experiments and work in an area of space not heavily occupied by other vehicles.
During a typical flight, a rocket engine will ignite at about 12 km (7.5 miles) to bring it up to the operational flight. Weightlessness will last for "some minutes" at the top of the flight arc. The plane will then slow down and ignite the engines again for a landing on a runway.