Virgin Galactic may have competition: suborbital flights by European company EADS Astrium may start by 2012

You can see the news here about a European company called EADS Astrium. If you already know about Virgin Galactic and what it will be doing with its suborbital flights then you already know the basic concept behind this one as well: taking people up to a bit over 100 km above the Earth where the official border of space is located, followed by a few minutes of weightlessness and then a return to Earth for the low price (really, it's actually a low price compared to what people have paid to get to space) of somewhat over $200,000.

The difference with this one however is that the plane they are designing will be capable of taking off and landing at a standard airport, which is certainly a big advantage. They'll be competing with Virgin Galactic once they start operations and competition is always a good thing.