The pioneers of private spaceships will open the new generation of space shuttles

The entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Allen and the world-famous aeronautical engineer, Bret Rutan, announced tonight at a press conference in the USA the most ambitious private space initiative to date: the development of a new generation of spaceships, which will be launched from the air and will be able to reach the Earth's orbit - and stay in space. In Tel Aviv already Getting ready to sell tickets

Allen and Rotan had already set a world precedent when their first private spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, was the first private spacecraft to take off into space without government funding. Today, this spaceship is at the base of Sir Richard Branson's ambitious project, "Virgin Galactic", which is planned to fly tourists into space already in the next two years. Now the two mark a new, much more ambitious goal: a few months after the last flight of an American space shuttle, Allen and Rotan lifted the glove and announced their intention to develop a new generation of space shuttles, which would be launched from the air and operate at a new level of safety, operational flexibility and economic viability.

The challenge is enormous: while the previous private spaceship developed by the two was designed for suborbital flight, and stays in space for a few minutes, the next generation of spaceships are designed to reach a height of about 400 km above the Earth, enter orbit and circle the Earth for several days - as it did The space shuttle, the development of which cost the American government many billions.

"I dreamed for a long time of taking the next big step in private spaceflight after the success of
SpaceShipOne - to enable reaching Earth's orbit with the same flexible approach," said Allen. "We are witnessing the dawn of a radical change in the private space industry, this innovative solution will revolutionize space travel."

Allen's new company, Stratolaunch Systems, will build a mobile launch system consisting of three main components:
The carrier plane, which will be the largest plane ever to fly, from which the spacecraft will be launched

A specially developed multi-stage launcher
An unprecedented safety and integration system, which will allow the launch missile, whose weight will reach about 250 tons, to be launched from the plane while in flight

According to Rotan and Allen, the innovative approach of launching a spacecraft from a carrier plane that reaches a high altitude instead of from the ground, will save many resources, improve the level of safety and simplify launch operations. According to them, the first flight of the new private space shuttle is expected within 5 years.

Tel Aviv also reacted with satisfaction to the dramatic announcement - Aliron Yaron, CEO of the first Israeli space tourism company, "Galactic Dreamlines", which represents "Virgin Galactic" in Israel, says that this is a real breakthrough. "Allen and Rotan have already made history, their amazing achievement in building the first private spacecraft was the one that gave Sir Richard Branson the confidence to invest the huge investment he is investing in the establishment of Virgin Galactic that will operate commercial flights into space for tourists. The first Israeli space tourist will fly in the coming years on a sub Orbital for a few minutes, but by 2020 we will also see an Israeli space tourist who will fly into space for a few days."