Article Courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba UPHAM, N.M. – Bottle of champagne in hand, British billionaire and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson on Monday christened Spaceport America’s diamond feature – a $32.5 million terminal-hangar that one day will house the vehicles belonging to his fledgling spaceline – by rappelling off [...]
Read MoreArticle courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba LAS CRUCES – NASA‘s recently announced plan to buy flights from two companies that will launch from Spaceport America gives the $209 million project a shot in the arm, as the facility preps for a ceremonial dedication of its largest building on Monday and [...]
Read MoreArticle courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba SANTA TERESA, N.M. – Amid a backdrop of national uncertainty about the economy, a slate of New Mexico’s top elected officials Monday heralded the growth that could originate with a new $400 million Union Pacific project in Santa Teresa. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and [...]
Read MoreArticle courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba LAS CRUCES – Squeezing in a stop here while en route to London, Virgin Galactic’s president and CEO told spaceport officials Tuesday that the company remains committed to basing its suborbital flight operations in New Mexico. George Whitesides addressed the new board of directors [...]
Read MoreArticle courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba LAS CRUCES – Spaceport America Director Rick Homans announced his resignation Wednesday, saying he’d been ordered to do so by the Gov. Susana Martinez administration. Some Spaceport America board members expressed concern about Martinez’s move and questioned whether Homans’ departure was good for the $209 [...]
Read MoreArticle courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba LAS CRUCES – Spaceport America’s anchor tenant company, Virgin Galactic, announced recently it’s partnering with two other companies that have their sights set on orbital spaceflight. The other companies, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., have submitted competing bids to NASA [...]
Read MoreArticle Courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba LAS CRUCES – Michael Blum’s conference name tag dubs him as an “astronaut-in-waiting.”He’s one of Virgin Galactic’s customers, and, if all goes well, he and five friends will launch into suborbital space about a year after the company begins its commercial space tourism operations at [...]
Read MoreArticle courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News By Diana M. Alba As the 20-foot, 1,100-pound rocket fired gracefully skyward against the backdrop of a New Mexico sunrise Tuesday, something struck a chord in the heart of 19-year-old Quang Tran. A Vietnam native who’s studying computer science at New Mexico Highlands University, Tran and his classmates were [...]
Read More