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Virgin Galactic dedicates commercial spaceport terminal

Oct. 17, 2011, Upham, N.M. - Nearly a year after British billionaire Richard Branson was in southern New Mexico for the dedication of the runway at Spaceport America, he's back to get the keys to the newly completed terminal and hangar facility so his Virgin Galactic can begin its commercial space tourism venture from this remote patch of desert in Sierra County.


October 17, 2011  By Carey Fredericks

Branson and Gov. Susana Martinez will be among the officials gathered Monday to dedicate the world's first built-from-scratch launch station for sending people and payloads into space.

Clad with custom metal paneling and massive panes of glass, the state-of-the-art terminal rises up from the desert floor to face the nearly 2-mile long runway.

The building will house Virgin Galactic's sleek spacecraft, mission control and a preparation area for the space tourists who have booked suborbital flights aboard rocket ships the company is developing.

It was six years ago that Virgin Galactic and state officials reached an agreement to build the $209 million taxpayer-financed spaceport. Officials said the completion of the terminal and hangar
facility marks another major milestone that brings the dream of rocketing tourists into space closer to reality.

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Still, the question many are asking is when the first ships will launch from Spaceport America. It was Branson who once predicted that the maiden passenger flight would take off in 2007.

Company officials now expect powered test flights to begin sometime next year. Commercial service will start up after the company gets a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. NASA has already signed a $4.5 million contract with the company for up to three chartered research flights.

Some of the 455 ticketholders who are in line to fly with Virgin Galactic were scheduled to be at the dedication ceremony.

Despite the long wait, fewer than 10 would-be space tourists have dropped out due to medical and other reasons, Virgin Galactic officials have said.

Tickets for suborbital space rides aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo cost $200,000. The 2 1/2-hour flights will include about five minutes of weightlessness and views of Earth that until now only astronauts have been able to experience.

Like development of the spacecraft, construction of the 110,152-square-foot terminal and hangar facility has been complicated. There were construction delays, building code problems, contractor disputes and costly change orders.

State officials have blamed the unprecedented nature of the project as well as its remote location, the lack of infrastructure and the weather.

The building was designed by United Kingdom-based Foster + Partners, along with URS Corp. and local New Mexico architects SMPC.

Virgin Galactic and officials with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority are touting the design as "green.'' Tubes running through the earthen berm surrounding part of the building help cool the
interior, while natural ventilation can be used during mild seasons.

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