space yacht

Recently I said;

The nice thing about a reusable vehicle, is you can build test
articles and shepherd them all the way through to production. You can
also build subscale test articles.

Another reason I like P&W - they have the RL10 - Reduce the 1,400
metric tons of thrust on each of the boosters of the full scale
launcher to a 45,000 pounds of thrust on a subscale model - and you
get a dandy little 7.8 metric ton launcher as part of the deal. In
the various configurations you can do 2 ton 4 ton and 8 ton to LEO.

Now,

Wouldn't this make a dandy space yacht?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:M...cept_image.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MOL_USAF.png

The MOL proposed by the Air Force in the 1960s - is about 8 tons. An
extension could be added to the sub-scale central booster element -
and sold as a space yacht. Launched into space for up to two weeks.

When testing is done, with the subscale unit (very similar to subscale
tests of the Concorde)

http://www.century-of-flight.freeola...images8/16.jpg

This might be an interesting payload to develop. An 8 ton space
yacht - that costs $160 million - and $1 million per week (2 week
minimum) to fly it.