A full-scale mockup of a new suborbital spacecraft, called the Lynx, was on display by the Mojave, Calif.-based commercial spaceflight firm XCOR Aerospace during the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in New Mexico. The vehicle is designed to carry one pilot and one passenger on brief rides to space for $95,000 a ticket.

 

The Lynx mockup was on hand for conference attendees, including this reporter, to climb inside for a taste of what its future passengers are in for.

 

The cockpit is roomy, with a full array of switches, knobs and controls taking up most of its surface area. Its real appeal, though, is the curve-around bay of windows in front and overhead both the pilot and passenger's seats. These panels should provide an amazing view of the blackness of space and the curved Earth below for those riding inside.

"I am very pleased to say we are progressing in building the Lynx and flying it within the next year," Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer of XCOR Aerospace, said at the conference Thursday (Sept. 18) in Las Cruces, N.M. "We're hitting on all eight cylinders. We're really excited."