????《財富》雜志聯系上美國宇航局（NASA）前宇航員、XCOR宇航公司（XCOR Aerospace）現首席試飛員理查德?希爾福斯時，他正從位于加州德哈查比的家中趕赴愛達荷州的圣誕家庭聚會。駕車的是希爾福斯的妻子，這輛豐田漢蘭達（Toyota Highlander）以波瀾不驚的70英里時速向前行進（道路限速是75英里/小時）。現年56歲的希爾福斯是這樣說的：“我早已不再追求那種腎上腺素奔涌的生活了。”

????即便如此，希爾福斯仍然渴望能夠重回太空。這一次他駕駛的將是XCOR公司的“山貓號”（Lynx）太空飛船。這是一艘可重復使用的私人飛船，比起火箭，它更像一架可以起飛降落的商業客機。“我把它看成有可能是自己職業生涯的絕唱，”希爾福斯說。“我的人生已經到了這樣一個階段，事情的意義并不在于發射升空。我的動力是做正確的事情，其中原始激情的因素要少很多。”

????從2005年開始，希爾福斯開始跟XCOR公司進行合作，幫助后者開發了適用于亞軌道旅游的廉價方案。“一些人在技術上非常厲害，而另一些人所能做的不過是建起一家網站來空談自己的夢想——他們是推銷商，類似于菲爾斯?巴納姆的人，”希爾福斯說。“我決定跟那些真正懂技術的人站在一起。”

????情況跟在美國宇航局反差巨大，希爾福斯繼續說道。他曾在那里執行過三次太空飛行任務，并擔任第三次任務的指揮官。在美國宇航局，飛船執行太空任務后會經過全面檢修，而每年的太空任務也只有區區數次。資金短缺對美國宇航局或其承包商來說并不是問題，希爾福斯回憶說：“商業模式？誰需要商業模式呢？我們是為政府工作。”相比之下，XCOR公司在大部分時間僅能維持生存。這家公司正在設計一艘飛船，它的運作模式就像太空版的西南航空公司（Southwest Airlines）客機。

????“我們希望讓火箭飛船的運作模式更像一架客機：調頭，加油，再起飛，”希爾福斯說。“它非常適合于解決亞軌道旅游的問題，并不需要那些參差不齊的性能圖表。”希爾福斯又補充道：“他們的亞軌道旅游概念涉及一個進行控制的有機飛行計算機系統，即宇航員。”

????希爾福斯指出，在成立14年后，XCOR公司已經“超越了小本經營的范疇。曾經在某些艱難時期，我們差不多過一兩個月就得關門大吉。如果擁有理查德?布蘭森這類人的支持，的確很不錯，因為他們有大把的錢可以投進來。但錢不是成功的唯一秘訣，很多東西并不是由資金驅動，而是由長期積累的技術驅動。”

????When Fortune caught up with former NASA astronaut Richard Searfoss, the chief test pilot for XCOR Aerospace, he was traveling from his Tehachapi, California base to a Christmas family gathering in Idaho. His wife was behind the wheel, piloting their Toyota Highlander at a distinctly pedestrian 70 miles per hour (the speed limit was 75). As Searfoss, now 56, put it: "I'm long past living for adrenaline rushes."

????Even so, Searfoss is eager to get back into space, this time at the helm of XCOR's Lynx, a reusable private spaceship that will take off and land more like a commercial airliner than a rocket. "I look at this as maybe the swan song of my career," says Searfoss. "It's not about kicking the tires, lighting the fires, at this point in my life. The raw excitement is much less of a motivator than doing something right."

????Searfoss has worked with XCOR since 2005, helping develop its budget-conscious design for suborbital travel. "There are some people who are very sharp technically, and some who can't put up more than a website about what their dreams are—the promoters and the P.T. Barnums," Searfoss says. "I've decided to stay with the real technical players. "

????It's a dramatic contrast from NASA, he continues, where he piloted two Space Shuttle missions and commanded a third. There, spaceships were completely refurbished between flights, and flew only a few times a year. Financial constraints weren't an issue for the agency or its contractors, Searfoss recalls: "Business model? Who needs a business model? We work for the government." XCOR, by contrast, has spent much of its existence living hand to mouth, designing a ship that will allow it to operate like a space version of Southwest Airlines.

????"We want to make rocket-vehicle operations much more like airplane operations: turn it around, refuel it, and go again," says Searfoss. "It fits very nicely with the suborbital problem. You don't need that ragged performance envelope." Another plus for Searfoss: "Their concept of suborbital space involves an organic flight computer—a human being—at the controls."

????After 14 years in business, notes Searfoss, XCOR has "moved beyond the shoestring operation. We were a month or two from having to shut the doors during some lean times. It's great when you've got someone like Branson, who's got a lot of money to play with. But his isn't the only recipe for success. There's so much that's not money-driven, it's long-term technology-driven."