British billionaire Richard Branson opened the world's first-ever commercial spaceport in the New Mexico desert, the new home for his...
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Showing posts with label spaceport. Show all posts
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Showing posts with label spaceport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spaceport. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Branson opens world's first 'spaceport'
British billionaire Richard Branson opened the world's first-ever commercial spaceport in the New Mexico desert, the new home for his company, Virgin Galactic.
The $209 million taxpayer-financed spaceport will be a launch station for people and payloads on the rocket ships being developed for Virgin Galactic.
The building will house Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, mission control and a preparation area for travelers.
The Virgin Group owner hopes that enough powered test flights of the spacecraft can be done by the end of 2012 to start commercial sub-orbital flights from the spaceport soon after.
With custom metal paneling and massive panes of glass, the state-of-the-art terminal rises from the desert floor to face the nearly 2-mile concrete runway.
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