Brian Feeney

Will ordinary citizens ever be able to visit outer space? Brian Feeney thinks so. The industrial designer and civilian astronaut hopes to pilot the only Canadian entry for the X-PRIZE, an international aerospace race for US$10 million.

He is currently heading up the Toronto-based da Vinci Project in hopes of winning the X-PRIZE, which is awarded to the first person or team to build a privately funded, passenger-carrying vehicle that travels to space and back. To win, teams must launch and land a manned vehicle on two consecutive suborbital flights, and reach a minimum altitude of 99 kilometres (62 miles) in space.

The award was established by the X-PRIZE Foundation to challenge the notion that only governments can send people and cargo into space flight for the general public. The goal of the competition, which has been endorsed by leading space and aviation organizations around the world, is to jump-start the commercialization of space, including space tourism. Currently, there are 18 teams from five nations participating in the contest.