Virgin spaceport to be built in N.M.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 · Last updated 6:58 a.m. PT

By JANE WARDELL
AP BUSINESS WRITER

LONDON -- Virgin Galactic, the British company created by entrepreneur Richard Branson to send tourists into space, and New Mexico announced an agreement Tuesday for the state to build a $225 million spaceport.

Virgin Galactic also revealed that up to 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for a seat on one of its manned commercial flights, including a core group of 100 "founders" who have paid the initial $200,000 cost of a flight upfront. Virgin Galactic is planning to begin flights in late 2008 or early 2009.

New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said construction of the spaceport, to be built largely underground in the south of the state near the White Sands Missile Range, could begin in early 2007, depending on approval from environmental and aviation authorities.

Virgin will have a 20-year lease on the facility, with annual payments of $1 million for the first five years and rising to cover the cost of the project by the end of the lease.

more, full story here

excited about the privatization of the space industry, as long as certain standards are met. Look at the number of accidents that nasa has had, especially recently. I'm a bit of a stargazer myself and nothing would be more interesting to me than exploration of space, i just don't want to see lives needlessly lost in the process. It has a lot of potential now that its in the private and competitive realm, less of a tab for the taxpayers.

this were just another corporation I'd have to say:

"PIGS IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE"

this is awesome. Quick someone loan me $200K, I want to fly too!

even if most of that $200,000 a pop to shoot spoiled rich people into the upper atmosphere goes out of state.

This is an extremely poor state. We'll take what we can get.

Hope Bush takes a one-way ticket out

That's a terrible waste of good meat. Eat the rich...

How can anybody rejoice over this waste while the ice caps are melting?

Polybutadiene is C4H6, so i'd guess that HTPB is C4H6-OH (or something like that). It also uses nitrous oxide (N20) as the oxydizing agent. So, you'd get water, C0, C02, N0, and N02, and maybe some weird CNH0 combination.

I'm more worried about the nitrous compounds (N0 and N02) and the damage to the ozone than the additional CO2.

Out of all the things our species does spaceflight is the most important.

When we can't take care of the perfectly good planet we started with (not just a "rock"), how the hell are we going to make use of the outright hostile ones elsewhere in the solar system and beyond? Humans did not evolve to live their lives offworld -- i.e., in outer space.

"We need to move to another planet because we busted this one" has got to be one of the craziest things any human has ever said, but it's getting more and more common lately.

Or eight billion. That just won't happen. Spaceflight, as much as I'd like to see it, will remain the province of the ultra-rich dilettantes and the occasional manned flights mounted by a handful of governments.

If we could terraform another world, we could sure as hell terraform this one a helluva lot more cheaply, and sooner.

They say "Future home of the New Mexico Spaceport". I heard those have been there for quite awhile. It's about time something actually gets built.

*Sigh* I'll have graduated from college by the time the first space flights go. I really wanted to go spectate. :(

This is going to be an excellent economic booster for NM, if y'all play this one right.

I thought it said spaced out virgins head to NM.

sorry

:rofl:

His skit about his upcoming flight into space.

Interviewer: "So you'll be landing in Arizona."

JJ: (Pained tone of voice.) "Please! ON Arizona, not IN Arizona."

Anyone ever see the spoof of him on "The Simpsons"? I was a book buyer at a Virgin Megastore, so it cracked me up!

:evilgrin:

Canadian Defense Minister was on MSNBC last week talking about it.

I'm confused - do they mean alien virgins or are they supposed to be breeding pens for our girls?
Are they taking applications yet? When do the invaders arrive? Are they already here?
Keep me posted...