Visitors to Spaceport USA at the Kennedy Space Center walk between launch vehicles used during Project Mercury October 27, 1998. At left is an Atlas-Mercury rocket similar to the one flown by John Glenn on his Friendship 7 mission on February 20, 1962. At right is a Mercury-Redstone rocket similar to the one flown by Alan Shepard. REUTERS

Astronaut Walter M. Schirra is seated in the Gemini 6 spacecraft in this December 8, 1965 file photo. REUTERS

The first American spacewalk, conducted in 1965 by Gemini 4 astronaut Ed White, is seen during a screening of a selection from over 100 hours of high definition archival footage of space travel that Discovery Communications is returning to NASA, on Capitol Hill in Washington May 6, 2008. REUTERS

This NASA remote camera file image shows the July 16, 1969 launching of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the Moon, from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex in Florida. REUTERS

This NASA file image shows the July 16, 1969 launching of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the moon, at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex in Florida. REUTERS

This NASA file image shows U.S. astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, one of three Apollo 11 astronauts, during the lunar landing mission on July 20, 1969. REUTERS

The Apollo 11 lunar module "Eagle" bearing astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, returns to the command module "Columbia" July 21 1969 following its historic landing on the moon's surface. REUTERS

Soyuz TM20 spacecraft is transported to the launching pad at Baikonur cosmodrome October 3, 1994 before carrying an international crew to the orbital station Mir. REUTERS

Russian cosmonauts Alexander Serebrov (top) and Vasily Tsebliyev (bottom) wave to the crowd with French colleague Jean-Pierre Haignere before boarding the Soyuz TM-17 spacecraft and lifting off on a mission to the Mir space station July 1st, 1993. REUTERS

The Soyuz rocket is fixed on a position on the launch pad at dawn January 27, 1998. REUTERS

Soyuz spacecraft with three cosmonauts, Sergei Avdeev, Yuri Gudzenko, and Thomas Reiter, takes off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan September 3, 1995. REUTERS

The astronauts aboard the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis take one final picture of the Russian Mir space station and the Soyuz capsule after seperating from them July 4, 1995. The Atlantis was joined with the Russian space station for five days. REUTERS

The space shuttle Atlantis is rolled to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida August 2, 2006. REUTERS

A NASA television camera operator prepares for a press conference as the sun rises at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida February 22, 2007. REUTERS

The space shuttle Atlantis leaves the vehicle assembly building on its way to launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida September 4, 2008. REUTERS

The space shuttle Discovery is reflected in a nearby lagoon on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, March 11, 2009. REUTERS

Space shuttle Endeavour lifts off on a mission to the International Space Station from it's launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, July 15, 2009. REUTERS

The space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida October 23, 2007. REUTERS

A resident on a kayak watches as the space shuttle Discovery leaves the launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida October 23, 2007. REUTERS

Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, the International Space Station moves away from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in this digital photograph taken by an Atlantis crew member June 19, 2007. REUTERS

Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, Expedition 19/20 flight engineer, takes pictures out the forward Kibo or JEM window of the International Space Station as the Space Shuttle Endeavour approaches for docking July 17, 2009. REUTERS

Endeavour astronauts (L-R) Tracy Caldwell, Barbara Morgan and Commander Scott Kelly perform a group somersault at the request of a TV interviewer during a news conference from inside the International Space Station's Destiny module in this view from NASA TV August 14, 2007. REUTERS

The Shenzhou-7 manned spaceship, the Long-March II-F rocket and the escape tower are transferred to the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province September 20, 2008. REUTERS

Chinese watch the launch of China's first manned space flight at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern province of Gansu October 15, 2003. The Long March CZ-2F rocket carrying China's first astronaut Yang Liwei lifted off from the Gobi Desert and entered its predetermined orbit in the launch the official Xinhua news agency declared a success. REUTERS

Migrant workers watch a TV showing the Long-March II-F rocket carrying the Shenzhou VII manned spacecraft blasting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Hefei, Anhui province September 25, 2008. REUTERS

Astronaut Zhai Zhigang of China waves as he exits the Shenzhou VII space craft in this September 27, 2008 video grab. Zhai became the first Chinese man to walk in space on Saturday, clambering out of the space craft in a technological feat that Beijing wants the world to marvel about. REUTERS

Soldiers watch the Long March CZ-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou VI blast off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, October 12, 2005. REUTERS

The Launch plane WhiteKnight, with SpaceShipOne attached, is rolled out from it's hangar to begin the historic flight of the world's first privately funded rocket plane beyond Earth's atmosphere at the Mojave Airport in California, June 21, 2004. SpaceShipOne, designed by legendary aerospace designer Burt Rutan and is funded by billionaire Paul Allen. REUTERS

A mock-up of the cabin of the Virgin Galactic Spaceship Two is seen on display at the Science Museum in London February 14, 2007. The spaceship is the first vehicle for space tourism, which could take tourists to space. REUTERS

SpaceShipOne pilot Michael Melvill waves from an open window as the launch plane WhiteKnight heads down the runway with SpaceShipOne attached as it begins the historic flight of the world's first privately funded rocket plane beyond Earth's atmosphere at the Mojave Airport in California June 21, 2004. SpaceShipOne, designed by legendary aerospace designer Burt Rutan and funded by billionaire Paul Allen, will fly to a height of 62 miles officially making test pilot Michael Melvill an astronaut. REUTERS

The Launch plane WhiteKnight heads takes off with SpaceShipOne attached as it begins the historic flight of the world's first privately funded rocket plane beyond Earth's atmosphere at the Mojave Airport in California June 21, 2004. REUTERS

The launch plane WhiteKnight with SpaceShipOne attached (top) is followed by a chase plane as it climbs during its historic flight, in one of the world's first privately funded rocket planes to soar beyond Earth's atmosphere, at the Mojave Airport in California, June 21, 2004. REUTERS

SpaceShipOne fires its rocket after separating from WhiteKnight during the historic flight beyond Earth's atmosphere, over the Mojave Airport in California, June 21, 2004. REUTERS

Pilot Brian Binnie stands atop SpaceShipOne after winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize in Mojave, California October 4, 2004. Paul Allen (R), principle investor in the project, Sir Richard Branson(L) of Virgin Galactic Airlines and designer Burt Rutan watch as the spacecraft makes its way down the runway at Mojave Airport. The prize was awarded after SpaceShipOne became the first commercial spaceship to reach suborbit in two successful attempts. REUTERS

The towering 327-foot-tall Ares I-X rocket moves towards launch pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida October 20, 2009. The rocket is considered to be the next step in replacing the aging space shuttle fleet. REUTERS

The Ares I-X test rocket (rear) sits on launch pad 39B during sunset at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, October 26, 2009. REUTERS

The Ares 1-X test rocket lifts off on a six-minute suborbital flight from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida October 28, 2009. REUTERS

The Ares 1-X test rocket lifts off on a six-minute suborbital flight from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida October 28, 2009. REUTERS

NASA has terminated its experimental X-33 space plane project that had been envisioned as a lower-cost successor to the aging space shuttle fleet for missions into orbit, space agency officials announced March 1, 2001. NASA said it spent $912 million on the project, hoping to create an effective new-generation reusable spacecraft to transport people and cargo into space. The X-33 is seen in a 1999 artist rendering. REUTERS

A computer-generated image of a EADS Atrium aircraft which will enable space tourists to experience weightlessness that will carry passengers briefly outside the earth's atmosphere from 2012. The aircraft, about the size of an executive jet will be able to carry four passengers around 100 kilometres from the earth, where they will be able to experience about three minutes of weightlessness and see the curve of the earth at a price of between 150,000-200,000 euros ($199,500-$265,900), it was announced in Paris on Wednesday June 13, 2007. REUTERS

A new lunar lander, which has a similar design to the Apollo lander but can carry and support twice as many astronauts for twice as long as the Apollo model could, is pictured in this handout image released September 19, 2005. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled the results of a study to create a blueprint for their next generation of spacecraft to go to the moon, Mars and beyond. REUTERS

A gibbous moon is visible above Earth's atmosphere, photographed by an STS-128 crew member on the Space Shuttle Discovery, during flight day three activities in this NASA handout photo taken August 30, 2009. REUTERS