Virgin Galactic made history today by opening the world's first commercial spaceport, dubbed "Spaceport America." The project has been six years in the making, and quite apart from the fact that it's a spaceport, it's a pretty brilliant design - LEED certified and equipped with geothermal heating and cooling.
“Today is another history-making day for Virgin Galactic,” said Sir Richard Branson. “We are here with a group of incredible people who are helping us lead the way in creating one of the most important new industrial sectors of the 21st century. We’ve never wavered in our commitment to the monumental task of pioneering safe, affordable and clean access to space, or to demonstrate that we mean business at each step along the way.”
Branson and his children, Sam and Holly, who will be the first commercial passengers on SpaceShipTwo, brought the event to a spectacular conclusion by officially naming the world’s first purpose-built spaceline terminal as the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space” while rappelling together from the roof of the striking new building.
This comes on the heels of Virgin announcing a new contract with NASA for three chartered research flights aboard its SpaceShip Two worth $4.5 million. Over 150 people have already placed deposits on a ticket into outer space for tickets priced at $200,000 apiece, and over 430 have made a reservation.
