Space tourism is enough to set most geeks hearts aflutter. The thought of traveling into space and experiencing weightlessness is enough to excite most space enthusiasts. However, the actual cost of taking a trip into space is more than most can afford.

A company from California called Xcor Aerospace intends to enter the space tourism market with a vessel called the Lynx. Lynx is the size of a small private aircraft and is expected to begin flights in 2010. According to Xcor the Lynx will take off from a normal runway like any other private aircraft.

After takeoff the  two seat Lynx will reach a speed of Mach 2 and climb to an altitude of 200,000 feet. The Lynx would then return back to Earth in a slow gliding circle before touching down on a standard runway.

The company plans to fly the Lynx craft several times a day to keep the project profitable. 

Xcor CEO Jeff Greason claims, “We have designed this vehicle to operate much like a commercial aircraft. The Lynx is powered by reusable liquid-fuel engines and is expected to be able to make several flights per day.

Xcor has spent the last nine years developing the engines for the Lynx at the same production facility where Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites is located. Rutan and mogul Richard Branson have their own idea for commercial space travel and unveiled SpaceShipTwo which will be the craft used by the Virgin Galactic fleet to ferry passengers into space for $200,000 per trip.

Lynx is just a model on a computer right now, though with extensive knowledge in engine design, Xcor's ambitions to get Lynx from concept to production in the next two years is entirely plausible.

It's interesting to note that the Xcor Lynx MK1 bares more than a 50-year-old USAF design for a reusable space vehicle. The X-20 Dyna-Soar was to be carried aloft into space atop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and glide back to earth like today's Space Shuttle.

Unfortunately, the program was cancelled in late 1963.