Canadians who want to travel to outer space may not have to venture very far to a launch pad.

PlanetSpace, a company which hopes to make space tourism a reality within the next few years, is looking at building a launch pad on Cape Breton Island.

The company was created in response to NASA's request for bids to shuttle cargo and crew to the International Space Station. The space agency is expected to announce a shortlist of one or more bidders on Friday to develop technology capable of reaching the station.

But PlanetSpace said Wednesday that it will go ahead with a facility even if it doesn't win the bid from NASA.

PlanetSpace President and Canadian entrepreneur Geoff Sheerin said his company, which has been testing rockets in Ontario and hopes to be ready for launch in three or four years, wants to capitalize on several areas of commercial space flight.

He plans to charge $250,000 US for a suborbital flight -- that includes a two-week training course -- from several launch sites including Cape Breton.

The company chose Cape Breton because it lies at approximately the same latitude as Russia's launch facility, the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Sheerin said there are other opportunities as well, including commercial satellite launches.

"One you're able to take crew and cargo to the International Space Station, well you can take people into orbit anyway," he told The Canadian Press from London, Ont. "It is definitely right down the middle of the company's focus, which is private space flight."

The Nova Scotia government has already signed an agreement to provide about 120 acres of land for the project that conceivably could rival the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The local chamber of commerce welcomed the proposed spaceport.

"It sounds like we are setting goals for reaching for the stars," Chamber of Commerce Vice President Owen Fitzgerald told CTV Atlantic. "Space travel is a big thing and it's going to be a big thing in the future. They say there are some advantages here in Cape Breton geographically -- let's use that to our benefit."

However, York University astronomer Paul Delaney told Canada AM Wednesday that the company has not yet fully committed to the project.

"They're looking at it. They haven't committed to build it yet, but they've done all the formalizing and saying let's see if we really can do this."

If the deal goes through, space tourism could be just around the corner for Canadians with the inclination and the cash.

"If you've got a couple hundred thousand dollars lying around, you could jump on a flight to the international space station into low earth orbit from Cape Breton in three, four, five years," Delaney said.

"That's exciting stuff."

PlanetSpace, a partnership between Sheerin and Chicago-based Chirinjeev Kathuria, hopes to fly more than 2,000 space tourists in the next five years.

"We're basically building a private manned space program for Canada,'' Kathuria told the Toronto Star."The facility will see orbital flights, similar to the Kennedy Space Center."

In 2003, Sheerin opened the Canadian Arrow Space Centre in London, Ont. -- the world's first private astronaut training centre.

In the past few years, more players have joined the push for private space travel.

In 2004, millionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson announced his intention to launch Virgin Galactic flights. Branson and his two children plan to be aboard the first departure in 2011.

PlanetSpace pegs their fares at $250,000 US for a suborbital flight. That includes a two-week training course.

According to PlanetSpace's website, reservations for space travel will be accepted soon.

With reports from CTV Atlantic's Randy Macdonald and The Canadian Press