13 Facts About XCOR Lynx

XCOR Lynx was a proposed suborbital horizontal-takeoff, horizontal-landing, rocket-powered spaceplane that was under development by the California-based company XCOR Aerospace to compete in the emerging suborbital spaceflight market.

In January 2016, XCOR changed plans for the first flight of the Lynx spaceplane.

In May 2016, XCOR announced development of the Lynx had been halted with layoffs of approximately one-third of the staff; the company intended to concentrate on development of their liquid hydrogen rocket under contract with United Launch Alliance, instead.

XCOR Lynx spaceplane was initially announced in March 2008, with plans for an operational vehicle within two years.

The build of the Lynx Mark I flight article did not commence until mid-2013 and XCOR claimed that the first flight would take place in 2015.

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Passengers who had hoped to make flights in the XCOR Lynx included the winners from the Axe Apollo Space Academy contest and Justin Dowd of Worcester, Massachusetts, the winner of another contest called the Race for Space.

The cockpit of the XCOR Lynx was reported as being one of the items that held up the assembly.

In January 2016, XCOR Lynx's CEO Jay Gibson said "…we anticipate the wings to be there in the very near future…" and the CTO Michael Valant said they were finding that calibrating the flaps was a challenge.

In October 2014, XCOR Lynx claimed that flight tests of the Mark I prototype would start in 2015.

In March 2011, XCOR submitted the Lynx as a reusable launch vehicle for carrying research payloads in response to NASA's suborbital reusable launch vehicle solicitation, which is a part of NASA's Flight Opportunities Program.

Media reports in 2014 anticipated that, by the end of 2015 or in 2016, the XCOR Lynx was expected to begin flying suborbital space tourism flights and scientific research missions from a new spaceport on the Caribbean island of Curacao.

The occupants of the XCOR Lynx were intended to have experienced up to four times normal gravity during re-entry.

The XCOR Lynx was expected to be able to perform 40 flights before maintenance was required.