Space Tourism a Reality by 2012

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571787,00.html

"There are more projects like this going on than most experts even know about," Doug Raybeck, a futurist and an emeritus professor at Hamilton College in New York, tells FoxNews.com. "There are a lot of people developing this technology under the radar and they want it that way."

Here's just a sampling of cutting-edge spacecraft:

• WhiteKnightTwo is a jet-powered carrier that will launch the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft; the two vehicles form a two-stage manned launch system, and Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has already ordered a pair of WhiteKnightTwos. The ships will form the basis for Virgin Galactic's suborbital fleet, which will charge space tourists $200,000 a head for a 2-hour space flight. The first services will operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico, though other spaceports may open in the U.K. or Sweden.

• The Dragon, a free-flying, reusable spacecraft is being developed by SpaceX for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. Developed in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft consists of a pressurized capsule for personnel and an unpressurized trunk for transport of cargo.

• The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is NASA’s next-generation spacecraft. It will transport crews to and from the International Space Station, the moon and Mars and is being developed by Lockheed-Martin and Orbital Sciences Corp.