Article courtesy of The Las Cruces Bulletin
By Todd G. Dickson
With construction under way on the 110,152-square-foot Terminal Hangar Facility at Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic’s 
new space liner took to the skies for the first time carrying its rocket spaceship. On Monday, March 22, Virgin Galactic announced that its commercial manned spaceship, VSS Enterprise, successfully completed its first “captive carry” test flight.
Virgin Galactic’s system for taking passengers to suborbital space will have the double-hulled carrier jet powered aircraft – called the mother ship or “Eve” – carry the rocket portion up to 52,000 feet, where it will be released. The six-passenger spacecraft will then ignite its hybrid rocket engine to bolt to an elevation of 65 miles within 60 seconds.
Monday’s flight simply had the mother ship carry the rocket payload, but flew to an elevation of 45,000 feet during a flight that lasted nearly three hours. The elevation and duration of the first “mated” flight illustrated the confidence that Virgin Galactic has in the aircraft, said New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Steve Landeene during a presentation Tuesday, March 22, to the High Tech Consortium of Southern New Mexico.
Both vehicles are being developed for English billionaire Richard Branson by Scaled Composites in Mojave, California. Founded by Burt Rutan, the company came up with a smaller version of the system to claim the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE in 2004 as the world’s first privately developed manned spacecraft to reach suborbital space. Branson bought the rights for the technology and is working with Scaled Composites to create a fleet of space liners for Virgin Galactic, which will take passengers to suborbital space for $250,000 a flight by 2011, should future testing go well.
Virgin Galactic will be the anchor tenant at Spaceport America, and the Terminal Hangar Facility is being built for its operations. Landeene said the foundation for the facility’s steel towers has been laid and the building is on track to be turned over to Virgin Galactic by early 2011.
Meanwhile, Landeene said work continues to progress rapidly on the 10,000 foot runway, which will primarily be used for the Virgin Galactic take-offs and landings. But the sturdy asphalt and concrete runway can handle any kind of aircraft and Landeene said he can foresee its use for specially modified 727s to take people on zero-gravity simulated flights.
Landeene also noted progress on other work at the $198 million spaceport in the desert between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences, including the spaceport’s fuel storage facility, wastewater treatment system, water access and other utilities, such as electricity. Though the spaceport is tapping traditional electricity, Landeene said the goal is to generate all of the spaceport’s energy needs at the site through renewable energy technologies.
With 12 of the 14 major project contracts awarded, “we are about a year away from having a full spaceport ready for business,” he said. All of those contracts have gone to New Mexico companies, though Landeene acknowledged the criticism that many of the jobs have gone to Albuquerque- based companies. Never the less, Landeene said the work done to date has created more than 600 jobs in the area, which he said is buoying local businesses and government through the lean economy. He estimated that the spaceport activity has already brought New Mexico more than $18 million in revenue that it wouldn’t have had without the project. “The return on investment is really quite tremendous,” he said.
The spaceport will continue to host other customers, such as UP Aerospace, which has conducted a number of launches with its low-cost sounding rocket, including research and development tests for Lockheed Martin and MOOG FTS. Landeene said he expects to soon be making other announcements about significant private space companies coming to Spaceport America.
With NASA rethinking its mission, private companies providing affordable access to space will become more significant partners in the future, Landeene said. NASA recently announced it intends to spend $75 million on development of suborbital vehicles.
It also helped that the Legislature passed and Governor Bill Richardson signed into law informed consent legislation, which defines the passengers as participants who know they are taking a risk in these private space flights. Landeene said the law doesn’t eliminate liability to the companies for negligence or damage to other property, but it does make doing business in New Mexico more attractive in the area of private spaceflight.
State Senator Steve Fischmann agreed with Landeene that many northern lawmakers have a “jaundiced view” of the spaceport until they learn more about research-and-development potential that’s possible along with the space tourism.
Landeene admitted some won’t be able to get behind the spaceport until they’ve seen it work and produce more local activity. He said his office continues to investigate other opportunities for providing more “supply chain” business to the local area, as well as packaging tourist experiences. The spaceport’s construction, however, is the primary task of his office, he noted.
