XCOR Aerospace was an American private spaceflight and rocket engine development company based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, Midland International Air and Spaceport in Midland, Texas[2][3] and the Amsterdam area, the Netherlands.

[9] The company uses the Mojave Air and Space port primarily to conduct test flights.

[12] In 2015, XCOR attracted investment from Chinese venture firm Haiyin Capital, valuing the company at $140 million.

[8] The Lynx was planned to be capable of carrying a pilot and a passenger or payload on sub-orbital spaceflights over 100 kilometres (62 mi).

A full step-by-step set of taxi tests, runway hops and full-up flights were planned to get the vehicle to a state of operational readiness.

It was planned to be capable of flying several times a day making use of reusable, non-toxic engines to help keep the space plane's operating costs low.

[23] XCOR has developed Nonburnite, a cryo-compatible, inherently non-combustible composite material based on a thermoplastic fluoropolymer resin.

Low coefficient of thermal expansion and inherent resistance to microcracking make it well suited to cryogenic tank use and also part of vehicle structure.

[25] In March 2011, United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced they had entered into a joint-development contract with XCOR for a flight-ready, 25,000 to 30,000 pounds-force (110–130 kN) cryogenic LH2/LOX upper-stage rocket engine.

"[26] The "multi-year project's main objective [was] to produce a flight-ready LOX/LH2 upper-stage engine in the 25,000 to 30,000 pounds-force (110 to 130 kN)-thrust class that costs significantly less to produce and is easier to operate and integrate than competing engine technologies"[27] 2011 demonstration test firings of an aluminum nozzle on XCOR's Lynx 5K18 LOX/kerosene engine demonstrated "the ability of the aluminum nozzle to withstand the high temperatures of rocket-engine exhaust over numerous tests, with no discernable degradation of the material properties of the alloys.

"[28] As of 2011[update], the length of the development program was stated to depend on "the level of investment as milestones are met in the build-a-little, test-a-little approach favored by XCOR."

[30] Completed projects have included: The Space Expedition Corporation (SXC) was founded by Harry van Hulten and Lt-Gen (ret.)