Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News
LAS CRUCES – Virgin Galactic announced Wednesday it was chosen by NASA to carry scientists and their technology experiments to suborbital space. The space tourism company plans to eventually launch suborbital flights from Spaceport America, just north of Dona Ana County.
“This arrangement marks the first time that NASA has contracted with a commercial partner to provide flights into space on a suborbital spacecraft and represents another important endorsement of the value of regular commercial space access for a wide range of science and educational applications,” Virgin Galactic said in a news release.
A second Spaceport America client, the Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace, also secured a portion of the $10 million in NASA awards handed out to seven commercial space companies.
Spaceport America director Christine Anderson described the announcement as “exciting news.” “UP Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace and Virgin Galactic are already clients of our spaceport, and we are in a unique position to help these companies and the others deliver on their new NASA contracts,” she said in a prepared statement.
NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, managed out of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., announced the awards, according to the company. Through this program, NASA has already arranged the flight of several scientific payloads on low-altitude rockets.
Virgin Galactic’s two-vehicle system – a spaceship launched from a plane – is in development at Mojave, Calif., by the company Scaled Composites. According to a log, 15 glide flights of the spaceliner, SpaceShipTwo, had been completed through June 27.
SpaceShipTwo is the “only crewed suborbital vehicle in flight test today,” Virgin Galactic said. The company “offers a significantly larger cabin than any other company taking deposits today, allowing for unique technology demonstrations and research,” according to the news release.
In February, Virgin Galactic announced it signed a contract with a private, nonprofit research group to fly two researchers and their payloads to space. The group planned to buy six additional tickets.
In all, 445 future passengers have booked flights and made deposits totaling about $55 million, according to Virgin Galactic.
State Economic Development Secretary-designate Jon Barela, whose agency is connected to Spaceport America, said Tuesday that construction on the facility is about 90 percent finished.
