With all the talk recently about commercial spaceflight, no one has really paid much attention to a vital piece of the puzzle that will be necessary to launch paying customers into outer space: the spaceport.
But don’t worry; Virgin Galactic has it well under control. The company, which is currently selling $200,000 tickets to outer space that will hopefully be redeemed in 2009, is working with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority to build a multimillion dollar spaceport out in the American desert.
The futuristic design has been created by British architecture firm, Foster + Partners and should be completed by 2010–just about the time I hope to win the lottery so that I can afford a voyage on Virgin Galactic.
In the meantime, space nuts can check out Virgin Galactic’s future world headquarters online, or perhaps even take part in history and apply for a job building the damn thing.