An Oklahoma aerospace company wants to use Hawai'i as a base to take thrill-seeking tourists to the edge of outer space in a rocket-packed jet plane by 2010.

Tickets for the climb to 330,000 feet would cost $250,000, and several hurdles remain, including securing financing and an official commitment of support from the state.

Rocketplane Kistler Inc. hopes to begin testing next year on a modified business jet that would take off from a commercial runway and then use rocket packs to carry it into space.

The company would compete with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which plans to take tourists from New Mexico to the edge of space for $200,000, starting in 2009.

For Rocketplane Kistler to use any Hawai'i airport, the state would have to obtain Federal Aviation Administration licensing as a spaceport. Obtaining such a designation is one of several aerospace initiatives making its way through the Hawai'i Legislature this year.

Rocketplane Kistler has been in talks with the state about developing a space-themed education and training facility at Kalaeloa. The facility would support suborbital space flights originating from Honolulu and landing at Kona International Airport in Keahole.

O'ahu is an attractive location for the flights because of its many tourists, said Charles Lauer, vice president for business development for Rocketplane Kistler. The company also wants to collaborate with the University of Hawai'i on space-related research.

Additionally, "the flying weather is great, and the views of the entire island chain and the ocean from space will be spectacular," Lauer said.

Rocketplane Kistler is among a small number of early entrants into the space tourism market. Trials of Rocketplane Kistler's XM Spaceplane are expected to occur in late 2008, with commercial flights beginning in Oklahoma the following year.

Over time, ticket prices for space rides should fall to about $50,000, according to the aerospace research firm Futron Corp., based in Bethesda, Md.

"It's like any new technology: Eventually the price will come down," Lauer said.

FINANCING IS KEY

Rocketplane Kistler's main hurdle likely will be financial, rather than technical, said Edward Ellegood, a director focused on space industry programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which is based in Daytona Beach, Fla.

"The technology is quite sound," Ellegood said. "It's something that's been done before, at least by the military. So it isn't a technology leap so much as a business challenge."

So far, the company has raised $25 million of the $150 million needed to field a commercial fleet of space ships, Lauer said. Separately, Rocketplane Kistler has received a $272 million government contract to build a rocket that can reach orbital space.

State lawmakers are considering ways to encourage space-related companies to locate here.

Senate Bill 907 would provide $1 million to create the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems. The center would simulate a lunar base on the Big Island, which would support technology development and astronaut training. The bill also would create an aerospace development office within the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The bill passed the Senate Economic Development and Taxation Committee last week and now goes to the Ways and Means Committee.

EARLIER PLANS FAILED

This is not the first time Hawai'i has set its sights on space. The state made a similar push in the early 1990s that included plans to launch rockets off the southern edge of the Big Island. Those plans failed in part because of community opposition, said Sen. Gordon Trimble, R-12th (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Downtown), who introduced the new bill along with Sen. Willie Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu).

New technologies such as Rocketplane Kistler's promise to make space flight more affordable and less obtrusive. State backing will help Hawai'i compete for such new businesses, Trimble said.

"One of the first steps is to tell people you're interested, and that's what we're saying with this bill," he said. "Space is something that has been in vogue and out of vogue at DBEDT. It's an idea whose time has returned."

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said it will proceed with plans to create an office for development of aerospace activities, even if SB907 fails to pass.

"We can be a major player in space, but we have to be proactive," said Jim Crisafulli, a research and development coordinator for DBEDT.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.