Space Travel Agency Sues Struggling Rocketplane

It's been a terrible week for commercial space hopeful Rocketplane Kistler. Yesterday came news that NASA had canceled its $207 million contract with the company, and now the Chicago Tribune reports that the firm is being sued to the tune of $3.4 million by its space tour-agency partner.

Rocketplane is one of a handful of small companies hoping to develop a commercial space program, working closely with NASA while also offering services to the private sector. But the last few months have proved hard.

Its highest-profile project was aimed at developing a spacegoing cargo transport vehicle that could bring people and equipment to the International Space Station. The Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane had planned to raise $500 million on its own by August, supplementing NASA's funds. But that money apparently hasn't materialized, leading NASA to cancel its contract.

According to a lawsuit filed by partners Abercrombie & Kent (which bills itself as "original luxury travel company"), financial and development woes run even deeper. The travel agency has been marketing and reserving flights on Rocketplane's other project, a sub-orbital vehicle aimed at would-be space tourists. As reported in the Tribune, the lawsuit alleges that Rocketplane has abandoned that project altogether in favor of the NASA program, and is laying off employees.

In its original guise, the three-passenger XP plane was to offer near-weightlessness and a trip to an altitude of 63 miles, with a price tag of $300,000. A number of tourists had already made down payments, and Microsoft had agreed to send the winner of a Vista-related contest on one flight. Rocketplane reportedly says it's still working on the vehicle, with technical refinements in the works, and a delayed launch date of 2010.

Whatever the truth, the two companies are clearly feuding – and with money evidently scarce in Rocketplane's coffers, the legal fees alone don't bode well for the planned trips to space. From the Trib:

(Rocketplane spokesman George) French said the company, which now hopes to have its first commercial flight in 2010, would unveil more advanced engineering details about the XP this fall. He believed there had been a dispute with Abercrombie & Kent over finances and that the Oak Brook company is now "trying to weasel out of the contract."

An Abercrombie & Kent spokeswoman laughed but would not comment further when told a Rocketplane official said the company is pushing ahead with the XP.

In other commercial spaceflight news, another U.S. hopeful, dubbed Space Adventures, told the Associated Press today that it's still short of funding to build a planned $115 million spaceport facility in Singapore:

"It's not a done deal. We have a plan, we don't have financing, there's not enough local support," said Eric Anderson, president and chief executive of Virginia-based Space Adventures Ltd., on the sidelines of a business conference in Singapore.

Space tourism in limbo, suit says [Chicago Tribune]

(Image credit: Rocketplane Kistler)