Images: Xcor rockets private space flights

Xcor Aerospace announced its intention of introducing private suborbital space flights in 2010. The company plans to build the Lynx, a two seat spaceship that is about the size of a private aircraft. The Lynx ride will let passengers experience weightlessness at the edge of outer space for about four and a half minutes.

"Lynx will be the greatest ride off Earth," said XCOR test pilot, former pilot astronaut and Space Shuttle commander, Col. Rick Searfoss (USAF-Ret.). He notes that passengers will be able to see stars and the Earth from space while riding up front, sitting next to the pilot.

Xcor has been developing rocket propulsion systems for nine years. It claims that the Lynx will be fully reusable, burn cleanly, and will have minimal impact on the environment.