The Rocket Racing League company was created by Granger Whitelaw and X-Prize Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis in 2005. Participants in the challenge that will be held for the first time on August 1st, 2008, will need to pilot rocket-powered airplanes and compete with each other for the 350,000 US dollars prize money. The event will take place at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, where two pilots will fly identical airplanes built by the Velocity Aircraft of Sebastian.

The two aircraft will be powered with the help of two rocket engines built by Armadillo Aerospace, that nearly won the Rocket Racing League last year with its mock lunar lander design, but the vehicle ran out of fuel just a few seconds before completing its objective. Yet another vehicle built by the same company exploded on the launchpad in a similar attempt.

"I would never claim that anything is foolproof, but we feel pretty good about the engine design and it has some intrinsic safety advantages. We are going to put something like 20 tons of propellant through it in all sorts of crazy run sequences before a person flies on it," says Armadillo president, John Carmack.

Unlike rockets flying at other X-Prize events which had graphite engines, the new engine design created by Armadillo is made out of tough stainless steel. Both airplane rockets will be powered by a kerosene-oxygen mixture, able to produce 8900 newtons of thrust. The 4.5-meter-long flame of the rocket should be capable of accelerating the airplanes to speeds up to 560 kilometers per hour.

"Flying people on our rockets has been our goal from day one. We are excited to work with the Rocket Racing League to provide a system that will be safe for the pilots, cost-effective and robust for the teams, and spectacular for the crowds," said Carmack.

The pilots will fly on a virtual track in the sky with the help of guiding systems mounted on the helmet visors, at a safe distance from the public. So far six teams have gathered and registered for the competition.