Video Caption: Sir Richard Branson joins Weekend Sunrise for an exclusive LIVE interview, just days before he’s due to depart for SPACE with Virgin Galactic. The billionaire looks set to win the commercial space when he blasts off in just over a week.
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“Spaceport America”
Video Caption: Join us July 11th for our first fully crewed rocket powered test flight, and the beginning of a new space age. The countdown begins. #Unity22 www.virgingalactic.com.
SIERRA COUNTY, NM, June 25, 2021, (NMSA PR) — The New Mexico Spaceport Authority, an agency of the State of New Mexico, and operator of Spaceport America, has completed a $35.4 million refunding of its Public Project Revolving Funds of 2009 and 2010. The refinancing of the bonds significantly reduced the interest rates from about 4.50% to less than 0.80% per annum, which results in a savings of $8.2 million for New Mexico taxpayers over the remaining nine years of debt service payments.
(more…)Take me out to the black,
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back.
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can’t take the sky from me….
— “The Ballad of Serenity,” Sonny Rhodes
“After so many years and so much hard work, New Mexico has finally reached the stars.”
— New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
By now, you’ve probably read the rhetoric flourishes in Virgin Galactic’s press release about the company’s first suborbital flight test in more than two years that was conducted on Saturday. Suffice to say, if the stars were located at the altitude that SpaceShipTwo actually reached (55.45 miles/89.2 km), they would take the sky away at the same time they burned the land and boiled the seas. Being suborbital, VSS Unity wouldn’t have helped anyone escape the inferno.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen. So, let’s just put doomsday out of our minds. It’s time to break down what the flight test accomplished, what comes next, and why 27 months passed between powered flights. And what about Jeff Bezos?
Ready? Let’s go!
(more…)Video Caption: Virgin Galactic conducted a supersonic test flight today of VSS Unity, a rocket-powered piloted Spaceship that will carry commercial passengers and scientific payloads to space. Following an initial and a subsequent supersonic test flight earlier this year, this marks the third powered flight and a key step forward in Virgin Galactic’s test program.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. May 22, 2021 (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“The Company or Virgin Galactic”) today completed its third spaceflight and the first ever spaceflight from Spaceport America, New Mexico. Today’s flight sees New Mexico become the third US state to launch humans into space.
VSS Unity achieved a speed of Mach 3 after being released from the mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space, at an altitude of 55.45 miles before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America.
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by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
After years of moving step by step, ferociously eventually, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is set to throw down the gauntlet to Richard Branson’s rival Virgin Galactic next week by announcing how people can buy tickets to space on Blue’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle.
SIERRA COUNTY, NM, March 16, 2021 (New Mexico Spaceport Authority PR) –– Canadian Corporation C6 Launch Systems has unveiled a new rocket engine test stand at Spaceport America’s vertical launch area.
At a ribbon cutting ceremony held on site, C6 showed off the static rocket test stand constructed by Highland Enterprises of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Highland designed, fabricated, and installed the stand at Spaceport America. The rocket test stand supports many different engine sizes, and it will remain at Spaceport America for future use by C6 Launch and other Spaceport customers. C6 Launch Systems have invested $200,000 in developing the test stand and conducting its mission in New Mexico.
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LAS CRUCES, NM, March 2, 2021 (NMSA PR) — Scott A. McLaughlin, a New Mexico native and a long- time business and engineering professional, has been selected by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority Board of Directors as the new executive director of Spaceport America, Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced today.
McLaughlin graduated from New Mexico State University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and has worked at several government agencies, including the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as in the private sector with tech and engineering companies.
He served as Director of Business Development at Spaceport America prior to being named interim Executive Director of Spaceport America in July 2020.
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- Rollout of Second Spaceship Scheduled to Take Place on March 30
- Announced Expected Timing of Revenue-Generating Flight with the Italian Air Force
- Next Rocket-Powered Spaceflight Targeted to Occur in May
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”), a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.
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