Rocketman unveils latest stage in mission to put tourists into space
Steven Bennett, managing director of Starchaser Industries, said Nova 2 will blast off next year.
A rocket enthusiast has unveiled his latest creation as he pursues a decades-long dream of sending tourists into space.
Steven Bennett, managing director of Starchaser Industries, based at a unit on an industrial estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester, said Nova 2 will blast off next year.
It will carry a crash test dummy and safety systems for manned launches planned for the future.
Mr Bennett said his bid to reach for the stars came from childhood memories of watching the Apollo moon landings and sci-fi puppet show Thunderbirds.
He added: “Ultimately we are looking at doing space tourism. People will pay us money, get to wear a spacesuit, we’ll launch them more than 100 kilometres out into space, and they’ll see the curvature of the Earth, the blackness of space and then we’ll bring them back again.
“We are very close to being able to do that, so another few years and we are going to make that happen.
“What we need to do is raise the funds – we need a bit more money coming in.”
A date for the launch of Nova 2 has yet to be released.
