Chinese company unveils plans for commercial space flights

With the Chinese government introducing a host of favorable policies and measures to boost the country's commercial space sector, a company has unveiled an ambitious plan for offering private citizens short journeys into space.

At a business presentation on Thursday in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, Lei Shiqing, founder and CEO of Beijing InterstellOr Human Spaceflight Technology, said her company has been working on the research and development of its CYZ-1 manned spaceship that can promise paying passengers a "safe, comfortable and affordable" experience of suborbital flight.

According to InterstellOr, the CYZ-1 will consist of two major parts — a crew module and a standby escape capsule. The spacecraft will have a weight of about 8 metric tons, a diameter of 4 meters and an inner space of 21 cubic meters. The crew module will have six seats, a hatch and several viewport windows.

The CYZ-1 will be lifted by a small carrier rocket and then separate at an altitude of about 70 kilometers. The craft will then continue flying outward on inertia and cross the Karman Line — at an altitude of 100 kilometers above sea level and commonly regarded as the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. The vessel will be capable of reaching as high as 200 km above Earth but will not enter any orbit.

After providing about three minutes of weightless experience to travelers, it will descend toward Earth and re-enter the atmosphere.

In the final stage of its 20-minute flight, the craft will unleash several giant parachutes to allow for a soft touchdown on a landing site, according to the company.

InterstellOr plans to conduct two unmanned test flights of the spacecraft before the end of 2028 and then carry out the first crewed flight, according to Lei.