Space tourism not far off, rocket maker says

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is known as a prestigious developer of carrier rockets, but in the near future, it may acquire a new tag: China's first space tourism provider.

Engineers at the academy in Beijing's southern outskirts are designing a new spacecraft to send anyone willing to pay $200,000 to $250,000 on a suborbital journey to get a magnificent view of the stars and experience weightlessness, according to the academy, part of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and the country's largest rocket maker.

According to the plans, the reusable spacecraft, expected to enter service around 2028, will look like a fixed-wing aircraft without a vertical stabilizer - the upright fin at the tail - and be propelled by a rocket engine. It will blast off vertically like a typical carrier rocket but make a horizontal landing on a runway like an ordinary plane, according to the academy.