Space Adventures teams up with Armadillo

The space tourism company Space Adventures has entered into an exclusive marketing agreement with Armadillo Aerospace, a developer of reusable sub-orbital rocket vehicles.
Space Adventures will sell commercial passenger flights on future Armadillo…

The space tourism company Space Adventures has entered into an exclusive marketing agreement with Armadillo Aerospace, a developer of reusable sub-orbital rocket vehicles.

Space Adventures will sell commercial passenger flights on future Armadillo vehicles, in the same way that it currently sells seats on Russian Soyuz flights. The company’s president and CEO Eric Anderson described the partnership as “a critical turning point for public access to space.”

Armadillo Aerospace was founded in 2000 by John Carmack, who is best know for his role in founding the video game developer id Software, makers of the seminal classics Doom and Quake.

Armadillo aims to build reusable space vehicles at a much cheaper price than is traditionally thought possible, and it aims to do so through the use of modular designs rather than conventional rocketry.

Since its founding, Armadillo has conducted over two hundred test sub-orbital test flights using more than a dozen different vehicles. It has taken part in several X-Prize competitions and regularly enters the Rocket Racing League.

Armadillo’s website states that the company is not looking for further outside investment, but that customers are a priority, hence the agreement with Space Adventures.