Space travel is in the sights of commercial flight

Richard Branson transfers the Virgin Galactic winged passenger rocket and more than 100 California employees to a commercial launch and landing facility in southern New Mexico, bringing his dream of space tourism closer to reality.

The billionaire said at a press conference that Virgin Galactic's development and test program had advanced enough to be transferred to a custom hangar and runway at taxpayer-funded Spaceport America facilities. and located near Truth or Consequences.

Virgin Galactic's general manager, George Whitesides, said that a small number of flight tests were on hold. He refused to set a specific deadline for the first commercial flight.

An interior cabin for the company's space rocket is being tested, and pilots and engineers are among the employees moving from California to New Mexico. The move to New Mexico places the company in the "right way," said Whitesides.

The manufacture of space vehicles by a sister company, the Spaceship Company, will remain based in the community of Mojave, California.

Taxpayers invested more than $ 200 million in Spaceport America after Branson and then-governor Democrat Governor Bill Richardson presented the settlement plan, with Virgin Galactic as anchor tenant.

The development of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft took much longer than expected and suffered a major setback when the company's first experimental gear broke during a test flight in 2014, killing the co-pilot.

Branson thanked politicians and New Mexicans for their patience over the past decade. He said that he thought that space tourism – once at altitude – would bring about profound changes.

"Our future success as a species is based on the global perspective," said Branson. "The perspective we know becomes clear when this planet is seen from the black sky of space."

Branson described a vision of hotels in space and a network of space stations allowing supersonic and transcontinental travel anywhere on the Earth in a matter of hours. He said, however, that the financial viability of construction comes first.

"We need the financial impetus to be able to do all this," he said. "If the space program succeeds as I think … then the sky is the limit."

In February, a new version of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo winged craft climbed three times faster than the sound at an altitude of nearly 99 km during a test flight overhead. Southern California, while a crew member was soaked in experience.

Yesterday, this crew member, Beth Moses, recounted her journey into weightlessness and the visual spectacle of black space and Earth.

"Everything is silent and still and you can detach and float in the cabin," she said. "Images do not make sense of space justice … I will be able to see it forever."

The current spaceship of the company does not start from the ground. It is transported by a special aircraft at an altitude of about 15 240 m before detaching and turning on its rocket engine.

"Liberation is like a free fall in a park of attractions, except that it continues," said Moses. "And then the rocket engine lights up … Before you know it, you're supersonic."

Branson had previously stated that he wished to perform his first suborbital flight this year as one of the company's first passengers on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. , July 20th. But he made no mention of deadlines yesterday. Pressed on the schedule, Whitesides said it was planning the first commercial flight in a year.

– AP