IDF: Garage 'space shuttle' lands at IDF

Hermes was built by Intel employee Morris Jarvis in his garage

A space enthusiast who built a working 'space shuttle' in his garage has been showing off the craft at this year's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

Intel employee Morris Jarvis and a team of enthusiasts built the craft, dubbed Hermes, in the garage of his suburban Phoenix home with the help of technology companies like Intel, Dot Hill and Microsun.

"It will be ready to fly into low Earth orbit within a year," Jarvis told vnunet.com. "All we need now is some extra funding, but $1.5m would get it airborne."

Initial flights will use a balloon to lift the craft and passengers to 113,000ft before detaching and then being piloted back to Earth.

The next stage is to attach a booster and take it higher so that passengers can experience about 15 minutes of weightlessness.

Jarvis estimates that the trip will cost about the same as a family car.

A video of the craft can be seen here.