Ground broken for Spaceport America
Posted: Mon, Jun 22, 2009, 7:30 AM ET (1130 GMT)
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for Spaceport America, a new commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The facility, located in the New Mexico desert north of Las Cruces, is being developed primarily for suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic, although a number of other companies have plans to use the site as well. Construction will begin soon on the spaceport's facilities, including a runway and terminal, and is slated to be completed in 18 to 24 months. The groundbreaking ceremony was slated to feature a flyover by WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft, but a minor problem caused the aircraft to diverted to Phoenix. The problem, a warning light for a speedbrake actuator, was corrected, and the aircraft flew over Las Cruces on Saturday morning.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for Spaceport America, a new commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The facility, located in the New Mexico desert north of Las Cruces, is being developed primarily for suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic, although a number of other companies have plans to use the site as well. Construction will begin soon on the spaceport's facilities, including a runway and terminal, and is slated to be completed in 18 to 24 months. The groundbreaking ceremony was slated to feature a flyover by WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft, but a minor problem caused the aircraft to diverted to Phoenix. The problem, a warning light for a speedbrake actuator, was corrected, and the aircraft flew over Las Cruces on Saturday morning.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
SpaceX sets Nov. 18 launch date for sixth Starship test flight
Posted: Sat, Nov 9 9:57 AM ET (1457 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, November 24
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
KFMB-TV San Diego — 2:26 am ET (0726 GMT) Dawn Aerospace Achieves Historic Flight - Breaks Sound Barrier and Global Records
Dawn Aerospace — 2:23 am ET (0723 GMT) Elon Musk’s most remarkable achievement – making space travel boring
The Independent — 2:21 am ET (0721 GMT) SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on the 400th Falcon 9 rocket
Spaceflight Now — 2:12 am ET (0712 GMT) Watch Rocket Lab launch 5 French 'Internet of Things' satellites Nov. 24
SPACE.com — 2:11 am ET (0711 GMT) |
