Construction begins on Spaceport America

[Bearsy]

Spaceport America - Wiki Popular Science article Official Website of Spaceport America For everyone looking to hop the next commercial flight to space, your departure gate has finally been announced. Almost two years after the first plans were announced, construction has finally begun on Spaceport America. The spaceport, which will serve as the launch and landing pad for Virgin Galactic flights, is the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and represents the first serious commitment of infrastructure to manned commercial spaceflight. According to the the project website the festivities kick off today with a a panel of speakers, food and drink, and even a mariachi band. Tomorrow, the construction begins in earnest. Currently, Virgin Galactic only has two space ships, so it will probably be sometime before the facility experiences O'Hare and LaGuardia level traffic. So now might be the best time to sign up for a flight, before Spaceport America starts experiencing the soul-crushing delays that keep John Grisham, Hudson News, and Brookstone in business. The goal is to have it completed in 17 months, by December 2010. I'm definitely gonna go check this out when I go to Burning Man in 2011. I'm so looking forward to this.

[dreamingofdreaming]

Yeah, this is pretty sweet. I've heard of the concept before, heard it through Virgin (Richard Branson); that they would be offering these space flights starting at 200K a person I also plan on going to Burning Man in the not too distant future....

[Bearsy]

Location in the New Mexico desert Artist's rendering of the arial view of the main terminal Artists rendering of the main terminal. Most commercial space ships(actually all, iirc) will be shuttles with runway launches, not vertical launches. Artists renderings of the inside of the terminal. Artists renderings of the common areas of the outside Not sure what this walkway is for, but it looks cool(and I'm thinking those are pictograms or something of the history of space travel)

[Black_Eagle]

This has got to be the best thing I've heard all month. Maybe I'll live to see a portion of the space age after all :'D This is just the beginning. Someday there will be 20 of those things organized in two rows of ten.

[[SomeGuy]]

Badass. Star Trek on a smaller scale. I might live to see space travel become a normal thing!

[Odd_Nonposter]

Artist's rendering of the arial view of the main terminal Who else thinks that this looks like something that could pass for a crop circle?

[Bearsy]

I was thinking a massive, robotic stingray.

[Techno]

This looks pretty cool. Imagine how expensive a ticket is going to be. I was thinking a massive, robotic stingray. All we need now is a giant, robotic Steve Irwin.

[Alric]

Everyone has always said it will be commercial companies that make space flight affordable. The government is just so wasteful. It still isn't affordable but its moving in that direction. I am sure before I am an old man, I will go up into space.

[Black_Eagle]

Around 200 kilos. Anybody got 200 kilos I can borrow?

[Kael Seoras]

well I hope I'll be able to fly into space someday

[LucidFlanders]

What is the point of this if it's made for rich people only? once again, non rich people get the shaft. I am glad there are torrents to shaft rich people back.

[Alric]

That is how things work. It is really expensive to create the technology. If they can't make money, then it will never come to be. Things do get cheaper though with time. While it might start out for the rich, it will be affordable.

[Invader]

What is the point of this if it's made for rich people only? once again, non rich people get the shaft. I am glad there are torrents to shaft rich people back. Cars were originally affordable only to rich people. And the point is and always will be this: to make money. Doesn't matter who's buying it, so long as corporate makes it's pay.

[Bearsy]

Yeah in about 50 years it'll be really affordable. Not cheap, but nowhere near $200,000 for a sub-orbital flight.

[Jeff777]

In 50 years you'll all be decrepit, senile old men with no memory of what "space flight" is let alone what you all had for breakfast. Maybe they'll have a senior citizens discount by then?

[Bearsy]

Here's hoping But also in 50 years medicine will be so advanced that's probably not gonna be the case. The average life span is supposed to increase by like 20+ years in the next 50.

[LucidFlanders]

Here's hoping But also in 50 years medicine will be so advanced that's probably not gonna be the case. The average life span is supposed to increase by like 20+ years in the next 50. Who would want to live longer in this cruel world? i'm fine living as long as i live, and i doubt i reach 40 for some reason.

[Jeff777]

Who would want to live longer in this cruel world? i'm fine living as long as i live, and i doubt i reach 40 for some reason. The life of a grocery store produce stocker that bad huh?

[LucidFlanders]

The life of a grocery store produce stocker that bad huh? Pretty much.

[Bearsy]

I've been reading Space: 2100... it's fucking amazing. It's explaining the future of aerospace technology and the future of humans in space in general. I really recommend it.

[The Cusp]

I wonder how many airmiles it would take for a flight into space?

[Bearsy]

Like frequent flyer miles? Hah! Like 6,000,000,000

[Bonsay]

Sorry but can somebody tell me what this will look like? It sounds like the intention is to send planes directly into space, for people with money to enjoy. But why would they be sending shuttles with the booster rockets, if this was possible? Can somebody elaborate? Thanks.

[Bearsy]

It's because the expendable rocket engine is currently the most efficient system for propulsion out of the Earth's gravity well. Escape velocity("EV" - the speed needed to break free of the Earth's gravitational pull) is 11.2 kilometers/second, and the rocket launch is the best way to get massive vehicles like the Space Shuttle into space. I don't know what you mean by "this" in the first sentence, but I assume you mean future spacecraft. Spaceplanes seem to be the craft of the future, they are reusable like the space shuttle and require significantly less fuel to reach EV. SpaceShipOne created by the Tier One program won the Ansari X Prize$10,000,000 to the first group to launch a reusable, manned spacecraft into space(62.2 miles up) twice in two weeks. SpaceShipTwo is the second generation and will be launched from Spaceport America. It, like SS1, will be carried into the upper atmosphere(50,000 ft) by a mothership(called WhiteKnightTwo, formerly, WhiteKnight). From there the SS2 will break away from it's WK2 and continue up with rocket propulsion. This is a photo of the first WK2 built, called VMS* Eve on it's maiden flight. The second WK2 that is still being built will be called VMS Spirit of Steve Fossett *(VMS means Virgin Mothership) The SS2(which are still all in production) that the WK2 will carry, will be secured in between the two fuselages, like this. The two SS2s will be called VSS* Enterprise and VSS Voyager, obviously named after Star Trek ships. *(VSS means Virgin Space Ship) Depending on the success rates of these two spacecraft, most, if not all, sub-orbital reusable launch systems will follow the same model. At least until a better way is created or a currently experimental launch system is perfected. I hope I answered your question, and if you have anymore I will answer them to the best of my ability.