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XCOR Aerospace, Inc. has
announced that the company will conduct multiple flight tests of the
EZ-Rocket during the weekend of October 6-9 at the inaugural
Countdown to the X PRIZE CUP in New Mexico. Flights will take place
between 11am and 5pm at the Las Cruces International Airport.
Piloting the EZ-Rocket during
its several demonstration flights will be Col. Richard A. Searfoss ret. USAF, a former NASA Astronaut and
Chief Judge of the Ansari X PRIZE
"This is a marvelous chance
for people to get up close and personal with rocket powered
vehicles," said XCOR President Jeff Greason. "If the new
start-up launch industries, with the encouragement of such
organizations as the X PRIZE CUP, can continue on our present
course, these is no reason why such flights cannot become
routine."
The EZ-Rocket, a modified Long-EZ
airplane, is powered by two liquid-fuel engines, which have been
designed, tested and built by XCOR Aerospace. "The EZ-Rocket is
just a demonstrator, but it is also a crowd-pleaser," continued
Greason. "We flew it twice at AirVenture 2002, in Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, and we are very pleased to bring the vehicle out of
retirement for the Countdown to the X PRIZE CUP."
”The purpose of the Countdown
to the X PRIZE CUP is to showcase the future of flight. This vehicle
has helped pave the way to that future.” said Mike Kelly, VP
Operations for the X PRIZE CUP.
“We couldn't be more excited to have XCOR and the EZ-Rocket
coming to New Mexico to fly.”
XCOR Aerospace, a California
corporation located in Mojave, develops and produces safe, reliable,
and reusable rocket engines and rocket-powered vehicles.
Based on the success of the
Ansari X PRIZE, The X PRIZE Foundation has partnered with the state
of New Mexico to present the X PRIZE CUP & PERSONAL SPACEFLIGHT
EXPO, an annual event in Southern New Mexico. The Foundation will
also assist in the development of the state's Southwestern Regional
Spaceport.
The 2005 Countdown to the X
PRIZE CUP activities, scheduled for October 6-9, includes a public
symposium on the future of spaceflight at New Mexico State
University in Las Cruces on October 6th; educational and public
activities at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo
on October 7-8; and a Personal Spaceflight Expo at the Las Cruces
International Airport on October 9th from 11a-5p.
Beginning in 2006, the X PRIZE
CUP & PERSONAL SPACEFLIGHT EXPO will be a week-long series of
space-related events and launches.
Full details and e-tickets are
available at www.xprize.org.
More
information about XCOR Aerospace, Inc. is available at www.xcor.com.
Media contact for X PRIZE: Ian
Murphy. 310.689.NEWS(6397) or press@xprize.org
Media contact for XCOR: Wayne Hammack,
The Hammack Group Phone:
303.469.7479
Contact: Wayne Hammack
The Hammack Group
Phone: 303.469.7479
Fax: 303.469.7494
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