The marvelous madmen of Mojave (a.k.a. Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites folks) unveiled their "First Private Manned Space Program", a contender for X Prize. The first, air-breathing stage of their system ('The White Knight'; the hybrid-fueled rocket propelled second stage is called 'SpaceShipOne') was spied during test flights several months ago, and speculations abounded on its purpose, the most common one turning out to be right. AW&ST promises in-depth coverage in their next issue.

This is not first private endeavor of this kind by far (either attemp at winning the X Prize, or proposal for an actual 'unorthodox' commercial launch system), but Rutan's track record gives hope that this one might actually work.

Too cool. Gotta love the style of their prototype designs. Very elegant.