Virgin Galactic logo.
August 16, 2019
Virgin Galactic unveiled Thursday its new control center and announced its latest tests for commercial flights in space.
The new Virgin Galactic HQ in New Mexico
The Virgin Galactic space tourism company on Thursday presented its new headquarters in the US state of New Mexico and unveiled the schedule of its latest test flights, getting even closer to its first commercial flights.
Virgin Galactic's control room was installed in the Spaceport America base, owned by New Mexico. This base was officially "opened" in 2011 by British billionaire Richard Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic in 2004.
The new Virgin Galactic HQ in New Mexico
After years of development, delayed by a fatal accident in 2014, Virgin Galactic has created a spaceship and crossed the border twice, but never with paying customers, even though 600 people - including celebrities Hollywood girls - signed up for the program.
First flights next year
Managing Director George Whitesides confirmed to AFP that he expected the first flights to take place "next year". "Today was a great day," he explained. "It's extraordinarily satisfying to see all the pieces put in place, the last touches, the vehicle, the staff, the place ... and the customers." "We are extremely happy to have arrived there," he concluded.
Gateway to Space
On the same day, Virgin Galactic presented to its guests two floors of "Spaceport America" "dedicated primarily to flight operations". The complex also includes "communal spaces designed to be used, in the future, by Virgin Galactic customers, their friends and their families," the company said in a statement. This "means that the base is now functional and able to meet the demands of Virgin Galactic charter flights."
The company announced last month the upcoming lifting of hundreds of millions of dollars in order to send, finally, its first customers in space, within a year. Virgin Galactic will offer a few minutes of weightlessness to six passengers at a time. They will float in the cabin and will see the curvature of the Earth, under a black sky, by large portholes.
Virgin Galactic Opens the Doors to the ‘Gateway to Space’
Virgin's chief pilot, Scotland's Dave Mackay, wrote on a blog that VMS Eve, Virgin's carrier ship, had arrived at the base and that the new test phases would begin soon. Later in the year, VMS Eve will return to California for "final testing".
Virgin Galactic: http://www.virgingalactic.com/
Images, Video, Text, Credits: Virgin Galactic/AFP/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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