Let's get one thing straight: this <isn't> Space Adventures' suborbital tourist craft - it's a mockup of a potential Russian reusable rocket which hasn't yet found financing; & which SA is only offering a agency service to if the thing is successfully built with a repeatable price of less than US$200000 per flight. That said: there's a lot about this design which has potential - albeit probably not in the same directions the press releases are pointing.

I remain skeptical about the real sustainable potential for space tourism; but if this craft can lick the reentry & reusability problems, it would be a bloody good preliminary stage for a cheap LEO launcher; & open robotic space to a lot of new players currently frozen out by launch costs. I know what's out there; & if the combination of this craft & an off the shelf kick stage like a Thiokol can put 1000kg into LEO for around US$1m, a >lot< of options open up; from incredibly cheap space science missions (including sample collection) to more overtly commercial payloads... with a bit of design massaging, you might even be able to sell seats during launch missions, further mitigating your investment costs while giving your passengers a show that's literally out of this world.

Keep the reality check going, of course; but we should also keep an eye on this thing; & hope that USAmerican ITAR regulations don't prevent the Russians from getting the development dollars they need.

Robert