Inside Virgin Galactic’s ‘Gateway to Space’
Virgin Galactic has taken the wraps off its new spaceport in the New Mexico desert.
The Richard Branson-founded aerospace company revealed the first look at the facility on Thursday morning, showing off the futuristic new design of the building that was previously an empty hangar, where it will soon lead commercial flight operations.
Two levels within the futuristic building include mission control, a preparation area for pilots and a lounge for paying customers and their friends and families. There’s also space behind two massive sliding doors that can accommodate two of Virgin Galactic’s carrier planes and a fleet of its sixpassenger rocket ships.
Just how soon customers will be filing into Virgin Galactic’s newly outfitted digs for the first commercial flights has yet to be determined.
Company officials have said a small number of test flights are still needed.
Billionaire Richard Branson, who is behind Virgin Galactic, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, first pitched the plan for the spaceport nearly 15 years ago.
There were construction delays and cost overruns. Virgin Galactic’s spaceship development also took far longer than expected and had a major setback when its first experimental craft broke apart during a 2014 test flight, killing the co-pilot.
Critics suggested the project was a boondoggle, but supporters argued that just like any venture never tried before, there would be difficult and sometimes costly lessons.
Now, the firm is finally giving the public a look at what it’s been working on.
The design, according to the company, is inspired by the customer’s journey – from their roots on Earth up until their transformation as an astronaut.
The lounge, for example, has been named Gaia after the mythological personification of mother Earth.
‘The floor design, furniture and fittings promote social interaction and human discourse – a sense of togetherness and unity,’ the company says. ‘An elevated, interactive digital walkway will heighten the departure experience for the Future Astronauts and their friends and family as they set out from Spaceport to VSS Unity on the day of flight.’
‘The Earth-focused design will provide a fitting welcome to those newly-graduated astronauts returning from space with a new appreciation and understanding of our home planet,’ the company adds.
Virgin Galactic posted on social media earlier this week that its carrier plane had landed in New Mexico and its main operating base was now at the spaceport.
And Branson said the wing of the company’s next rocket ship has been completed, with plans to eventually have several of the ships.
Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said once the test flights are complete, commercial operations can begin.
‘So this moment is just one that we’ve been working for a long time and we’re very excited to get to it,’ he said in a social media post last week.
About 600 people have reserved a seat, according to the company. Tickets are $250,000.
That buys them a ride on the winged rocket ship, which is dropped in flight from the carrier airplane. Once free, it fires its rocket motor to hurtle toward the boundary of space before gliding back down.
The latest test flight reached an altitude of 56 miles (90 kilometres) while travelling at three times the speed of sound.