CATS Prize

The Cheap Access to Space (CATS) Prize was begun in 1997 by the Space Frontier Foundation and the Foundation for the International Non-governmental Development of Space (FINDS). Their contest offered a $250,000 prize for the first team to launch a 2 kilogram payload to 200 km by November 8, 2000, using a privately developed launcher.

The prize was not claimed before it expired. However, the CATS Prize challenge later inspired the Ansari X Prize competition for manned space flight, which was won by Scaled Composites using their privately developed manned vehicle Spaceship One.