Virgin Galactic Spaceport

A few weeks ago we said goodbye to NASA and hello to Virgin Galactic. We were sure that Virgin would play a key role in future space exploration, but we didn’t expect things to move so quickly. Under the command of British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic has begun construction on a spaceport that will house all the planes, astronauts and equipment necessary for their space tourism venture.

The $209,000,000,00 facility in New Mexico was dubbed Spaceport America and will be the headquarters for the “everyday astronauts”. Everyday as in they are not full time astronauts, but regular people that will only be shot into space for a relaxing vacation (though I can’t imagine relaxing at 6 Gs of force pushing down on you). 455 “regular people” are already on reservations for the first few launches which will come out to an even $200,000 flight cost.

You need not worry though, the “astronauts” will not be shot up vertically into space via rocket, but instead using the wings of the White Knight mother ship. The craft will be flown to 50,000 feet, release the rocket plane with the passengers inside and ignite to propel the passengers into suborbit. The whole thing seems like a giant rollercoaster ride to the average reader, but instead of paying $4 to get on, the total comes out to about 3 year’s salary. Virgin Galactic is a millionaire-attracting rocket ready to launch into a new era of space travel and tourism.