Many are anxious to see when Virgin Galactic will begin their commercial flights to space. CEO George Whitesides was at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight last week to give an update on the company.
George Whitesides knows many in New Mexico want to see the economic growth commercial space will bring to the area. He began his presentation at ISPCS by recognizing community partnerships Virgin Galactic has made.
“The Hotel Encanto, the Sierra Grande Lodge, the world class gourmet and Savoy restaurant,” Whitesides said. “Those are all announcements that we have made over the last few months about folks that we will be working with.”
Whitesides said they are just a few steps away from beginning launches at Spaceport America.
“Last week we completed qualifications for our rocket motor with which we will return to powered flight,” Whitesides said. “And we expect to get back into powered test flight quite soon.”
He says that operations will be moving to Spaceport America soon and that families have already started moving to the area.
“Spaceport America is going to be a fantastic facility that will change the world,” Whitesides said. “I think the phrase that Stu had yesterday which is the State of New Mexico is sitting on a goldmine is exactly right.”
While he could not give a date that the flights to space would begin, he hinted that the next year would be memorable.
“We are making good progress, but we will fly only when we are ready and when it is safe to take our customers up,” Whitesides said. “I personally am incredibly excited about the next six months. And I think in that time you will see some great and exciting things coming out of galactic, but also out of the Spaceport as a whole. And I think that this is going to be a year coming up that people will remember for a long time.”
