Ah, all things interesting once more….

From the October CPU Magazine, the opportunity to play in weightlessness, a vertiable “F” ticket ride (with an “F” ticket price tag):

The “Space Jet” conceived by EADS Astrium , a European aerospace and defense company. It has both conventional jet engines and a rocket. Takes off like a jet, heads up to about 35-40K feet and fires up the “G” maker to head up into the deep blue sky above.

Passing 60KM of altitude about 80 seconds later, the apogee will be at 100KM, with about 3 minutes of weightlessness, before heading into the atmosphere once more, using angle of descent to control the re-entry speed. 3-5 Gs will accompany this portion of the ride, with the exterior of the aircraft reaching the 250^oF range. Once low enough, the jets will be restarted and a conventional landing (hopefully) will follow a few minutes later. Total time from take-off to landing is about 2 hours….cost? Thought you’d never ask…”around” $250,000 (the price of a 1300 sq ft house in Va Beach these days).EADS is looking at a “fleet” of 20 of the Space Jets.