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Matt Rivera / msnbc.com
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson joins in on the acrobatics performed by the Project Bandaloop dance troupe during the dedication of Spaceport America's terminal/hangar facility.
British billionaire Richard Branson christened the world's first facility designed for private-sector space travel in grand style today, rappelling down the glass-sheathed side of Spaceport America's spaceship complex with a champagne bottle in hand.
Branson's acrobatics served as the climax of a spaceport dedication ceremony that also featured some aerobatics from the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and its massive WhiteKnightTwo mothership. The double-plane flight system is designed to carry passengers to the edge of outer space from Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert. Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, could conceivably start passenger service on SpaceShipTwo in late 2012 or 2013, depending on how the flight tests go.
Branson and his children, Sam and Holly, popped up as surprise guest performers during a wall-walking dance staged by the California-based Project Bandaloop. The champagne bottle was lowered down to Branson on a rope. He uncorked the bottle and gave Spaceport America's alien-looking, 110,000-square-foot terminal/hangar facility a celebratory splash of bubbly. Then he declared that the building would be called the "Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space," and finished off the rites with a deep swig of champagne.
Matt Rivera / msnbc.com
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson sprays champagne from a bottle as he hangs from a rope along the side of Spaceport America's nearly completed terminal/hangar facility in New Mexico.
The Project Bandaloop dance troupe was the highlight of the "Gateway to Space" dedication ceremony.
When Branson was lowered to the ground, he told New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez that he hoped the performance would be "the first of many safe landings at Spaceport America."
Virgin Galactic's chief executive officer, George Whitesides, said it was Branson's idea to get in on the act, and Branson told me that no one rejected the idea. "I think they've given up trying to convince me not to do things," he said.
Today's ceremony drew hundreds of onlookers — including Martinez and other New Mexico politicians as well as Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin — to a site 30 miles east of Truth or Consequences, N.M., in an area so isolated that cellphone coverage was hard to come by. Spaceport director Christine Anderson joked that the $209 million facility might be out in the middle of nowhere, but it's a "beautiful middle of nowhere," set amid the San Andres Mountains.
Mark Greenberg / Virgin Galactic
Dancers perform acrobatics on the glass facade of Spaceport America's terminal/hangar facility, which was christened as the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.
Among those in the audience were more than 150 spaceflight fans who have already put down deposits for SpaceShipTwo's $200,000 fare. Virgin Galactic says that, in all, it has taken more than 450 reservations for suborbital spaceflights. One of the would-be fliers, Namira Salim of Dubai, said that today's dedication marked "an exciting moment."
"It's not just about going into space — the dream of the common man," she told me. "It's so much more historic and significant. The development of the private space industry and the contribution that Virgin Galactic is making to private spaceflight will actually enable payloads, researchers, scientists, all kinds of people to go up to space."
Alan Stern, a space scientist at the Southwest Research Institute who has reserved his seat to conduct scientific experiments on SpaceShipTwo, said the rise of suborbital spaceships would be a "game-changer" for his field. Just last week, in fact, Virgin Galactic said it had worked out contract arrangements with NASA for up to three research flights on SpaceShipTwo, with a value of up to $4.5 million.
Virgin Galactic's flight plan calls for the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane (also known as VMS Eve) to take SpaceShipTwo (also known as VSS Enterprise) up to a height of 50,000 feet, and then let it go to fire its rocket engine. The smaller plane would blast up to more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) in altitude, past the internationally accepted boundary of outer space. After a few minutes of experiencing weightlessness and gazing at the curving Earth, the riders would glide back to a landing at Spaceport America. The up-and-down trip would take about three hours in all.
Eventually, Branson plans to extend Virgin Galactic's reach to point-to-point suborbital flight as well as orbital outings. "This is a Virgin birth," he joked.
Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images
Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane flies over Spaceport America in New Mexico with the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane nestled between its twin fuselages.
Matt Rivera / msnbc.com
The SpaceShipOne rocket plane is nestled between the twin fuselages of its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane.
During today's half-hour demonstration flight, SpaceShipTwo remained firmly attached to its carrier airplane, and the altitude was capped at about 10,000 feet. But the plane has already gone through 16 free-flying, unpowered glide tests at its Southern California test site — including one last month that was characterized as a "nail-biter." Sometime in the next year, SpaceShipTwo's developers at Scaled Composites are expected to begin powered tests with a hybrid rocket engine made by Sierra Nevada Corp.
Meanwhile, construction work will continue at Spaceport America. The facility is said to be more than 90 percent complete, and the exterior of the "Gateway to Space" bseems to be essentially finished. But lots of work remains to be done on the interior — particularly in the facility's terminal area, where the floors and the walls are little more than bare concrete and unadorned drywall. The hangar, which is designed to hold as many as two WhiteKnightTwo motherships and five SpaceShipTwos, seems cavernous today.
Matt Rivera / msnbc.com
Hundreds of visitors take their seats inside the spaceship hangar at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Another year should make a big difference, both for the Gateway to Space's interior and for Branson's space aspirations. He's hoping to take a suborbital space trip on SpaceShipTwo with his family for Christmas in 2012. Does that sound too ambitious, coming from a guy who has just rappelled down a 60-foot-high building? You tell me, by registering your comments below.
Matt Rivera / msnbc.com
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson walks alongside the WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane parked at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
More about commercial spaceflight:
- Private spaceship factory open for business
- PhotoBlog: Another look at Richard Branson's antics
- Slideshow: The making of SpaceShipTwo
- Gallery: Ten players in the commercial space race
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Go go Sir Richard
A theme park for the very rich. Of course they're lining up for tickets - it will give them something to talk about. One day they will have their own private space station to fly to and smoke cigars and drink brandy and command the world while listening to Strauss.
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Come on, RanRan, you say that like it's a bad thing. This is what makes life worth living and why I love this country. Sounds like you've been spending too much time with the Occupy Wall Street losers that hate the fact that anyone has more than them. It's a dangerous path to go down...
SpaceFan--oh, dear, someone who is identifying with the extraordinarily rich. You do know, SpaceFan, that the history books tell us a lot about the last time we had robber barons. The robber barons stole from everyone to finance their leisurely lifestyle and ultimately caused a Depression that spread worldwide (sound familiar)--the everyday people got together and founded programs to help themselves and their children, thinking that their sacrifices would make sure that their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren would never be taken advantage of again.
Of course, people like you are perfectly happy to hand all those gains over to the present-day robber barons (like the Koch brothers) because you have fantasies of joining their leagues. I wish that your ever-so-great grandfather could fill you in on just how ignorant you are.
I am extremely pleased to see that the young people have finally started to wise up and to realize that they have political power--power to force big corporations to treat others fairly. I am glad that they are waking up and realizing that putting money in the pockets of financiers rather than putting money in the pocket of their fellows is a really bad idea. It is good to see Bank of America losing customers to local banks and local credit unions and start up businesses online that are run by young people.
Seriously--there used to be a movement to only buy "Made in USA" products. It is good to see that the new movement is more sensible--suggesting that people buy, when they can, from people like themselves rather than buying things from the big corporations. Prefer small, local businesses is the new mantra--support your own communities, as they will support you.
This is a good path. I have nothing against the corporations--as long as they don't try to exploit their workers and exploit their customers. But, when they do exploit people--then people have the right to shop elsewhere and to start up their own businesses. This is a good path--it is capitalism and the entrepreneurial spirit in its most elemental form. The only people who fear it are those who have enjoyed exploiting the apathetic sheep like yourself, and the apathetic sheep themselves who fear to upset their shepherds.
Oligarchy and monopolies are dangerous. Democracy and free-market capitalism are good. Well--at least, that's what those of us not drinking the Kool-aid think.
History will always remember the individual that stepped out to achieve greatness, in fact it is only the vision of a individual that can push us into new frontiers. Mr. Branson will be remembered as one of those, a true American industrialist that didn't ask anyone if he could, but said who will stop me. Cheers Sir, we need more people like you.
Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision. The rest blame others.
Uh... You realize that he's British, right?
Branson's Joy Ride Park caters to a very elite group. It's a about the bragging rights of being able to plop down $200,000 for a ride and then talk incessantly about it at dinner parties for the next 5 years. I guess that's a good thing for essentially boring people, whom, otherwise would only have each other to talk about or about the unruly masses - should the conversation turn 'serious'.
It's a targeted market and you probably aren't in it. Are the rich still inspiring awe in some bystanders or wannabes? So speaking of good things...two hundred grand could do a lot of good in communities all over the US.
RanRan - At least Mr Branson is spending his money to create something that will someday go down in price and cater to the rest of us common people. Don't act like all first time inventions weren't catered to the rich simply because of its rarity. Most of the super rich are as you say, but not this one.
If those people who bought the tickets for $200,000 didn't spend it on that private space shuttle, then, whose going to encourage the funding of this project? It'll die down and then here we are again, staring at the sky hoping someday someone will make a difference in this world. No no, I prefer people with the vision to move forward and spend their money to get things moving.
As one man told me, "You women help keep this economy moving, keep spending!!!". Damn straight, I'm not rich or middle class but I want to make sure I spend every now and then to keep that money going, sort of speak.
Why do liberals always assume that because someone else is doing well, that it automatically comes out of their pocket?
Any one of the losers on Occupy Wall Street could go and invent something, or start a business tomorrow. Heck... wash cars or mow lawns, and they would have more money in their pocket than they do right now.
Stifle that innovation so that there is no reward for putting YOUR OWN TIME AND MONEY AT RISK and why would anyone bother? Where would jobs come from then?
Soviet Union tried that... didn't work out that well for them.
He borrowed technology that we all paid for with NASA, but that's beside my point. I doubt very much that his 'space' program is aimed at any group other than the rich. Basically, this is the new Concorde with flights to nowhere... but with better bragging rights.
RanRan, you seem to contradict yourself. One minute you pummel this elite rich group and corporate greed and the next you tout capitalism and the free market. The beauty of the free market (that you pointed out earlier) is that consumers can choose not to spend their money for products or services from companies that don't play nice. I'm curious how your strong opinions about the wealthy and big corporations came about.
I have, and continue to, work very hard for what I have and I get really frustrated when people look at a lifetime's worth of savings and want some of it because it's more than they have. I may not be in Branson's target market, but I can (and will seriously consider) plunk down $200K each for my wife and I for a trip to space. We sure wouldn't do it for dinner party bragging rights. I was a young man when I saw mankind's first steps on the moon and space has been on my bucket list ever since. Folks like Branson and Elon Musk at SpaceX are doing incredible things at an otherwise un-incredible time. They are paving the way to moving the human race beyond this fragile rock someday. Yes, the $200K could make a small, temporary impact somewhere else but I'd rather invest it in a future that's worth sending our next generations into.
RanRan, I apologize. I credited you with some comments from Bean@home. He/she is guilty of the contradictions, not you. Sorry about that...
RanRan, Kuromi has it right. You sound like sour grapes. I only bring in about 50,000 a year but I don't resent "big money" makers. Like Branson, alot of them EARNED their money with hard work and vision. My suggestion to you? Work smart, work hard, use your money wisely. Who knows, you might be able to afford a trip when the price comes down.( And mark my words, it will!)
Astronauts EARNED their ride. I don't think excess is fashionable.
"Why do liberals always assume that because someone else is doing well, that it automatically comes out of their pocket?"
And this is where so-called "conservatives" don't understand the fundamentals of economics. Economics is the distribution of goods, products, and services - a.k.a. the DISTRIBUTION of wealth. Self-proclaimed "conservatives" don't seem to understand that wealth is a finite entity - not some infinite pile of money that if everyone would just work hard enough, they'd get a piece of it.
So yes, in a sense, the uber-rich are taking from everyone else to have their ridiculous wealth - because it is a DISTRIBUTION of that wealth. It's really quite simple - but way over the heads of many like yourself.
There is nothing wrong with looking up to, and aspiring. The most direct and attainable way to a better life style is through education. It has been relatively cost effective until recent times, but still attainable, with a bit f effort and good grades.
There have always been "dreamers" amongst the socio-economic lower class, and they do manage to fulfill by staying in school, at least to the level where school is no longer necessary. Steve Jobs is a perfect example, he persevered in following a dream against heavy odds, and even with a very public termination, he continued to persevere and succeed, making a lot of us happy along the way, me included.
Stop focusing on "them vs us," and see how you may aspire to be one of "them" and bring integrity and ethics to that level by redirecting some of the wealth.
Where we and at least Great Britain, have generations of families living on the dole, it is time to break that cycle, and I am hopeful some do. It really takes education and a desire to live better.
I applaud Richard Branson, yes British, his Spaceport is and will continue to enhance the USA. Of course he will financially gain, as will many Americans. I don't have the money to reserve a seat on one of the flites, wish I did. Long live entrepreneurs and long live those aspiring to be one.
Boldly going.....
Richard Branson, you are the Don...go for it! I hope one day to be able to book a flight, too! That would be a dream come true for me.
How can you not like Sir Richard? What a cool guy. I'm very impressed that you got to meet him, Alan.
He's amazing! Forward thinker/innovator with a compassion for life.
The real future of space travel belongs to those who don't have to depend 100% on government (taxpayer support).
Nice to see someone be able to follow thier dream. I hope one day the cost is such that anyone who wants to live that dream can, and not just the super wealthy.
At least some still understands the importance of space exploration. Granted it's not a Mars mission or anything of that grandeur but still, it is a step in the right direction, up.
Go Sir Richard indeed!
If the common man had 1/100 of the drive, guts and determination of Richard Branson, we would be living in the Garden of Eden. We used to be a nation of "yes we can" and he still has that spirit. That dude has lived 100 lifetimes with all he strives for.
Agreed. I expected most of the comments to be negative and bitter about his accomplishments, but was pleasantly surprised to see many comments in the same vein as yours. Richard Branson is indeed an amazing person.
Exactly, the rich will pay for all the costs so that us mere mortals can go. Branson has been one of my heroes for a very long time.
It's good to see all of this positivity for space and science. Branson's one of the few dishing out his own fortune to better the knowledge of the entire race, and we should all be thanking him. A bit nuts, maybe, but certainly visionary.
Go for it Richard. Don't let anyone stop you. There will always be a crowd shouting 'No!".
Ignore them. Boldly go . . . . .
Trail blazer!
This is a man with vision, someone who knows that you only make money taking risks and that risks can be fun. If there were more billionaires that would do that rather than spend their time trying make themselves even richer, imagine where we would be?
I love this man!
I would love to just be the guy who got paid to wash his car. Or do all the Non-Destructive testing for him.
If I could trade lives with anyone in the world, it would be this guy.
I would love to have the money to have as much fun as this SOB does- YOU GO Richard!!!!
Commercial flights into space in my lifetime! I never would have imagined this at the turn of the century.
I just hope I can afford to take one before I die.
Sir B got on board after the fact. The concept was already proven, the first product had flown. He simply is improving and looking for billions more in contracts. He's not taking that big a risk. Cudo's to him for his interest.
He may only be risking mountains of money (and his and his family's lives), but he is at least risking that much. Proving a concept may involve just as much risk, but making it actually happen deserves just as much credit.
Is there a cooler guy than Sir Richard? He's about to do for space travel what Steve Jobs did for computers. May he have all the luck in the world - he seems to have the rest well in-hand.
No offense, but ultimately, Steve Jobs' (and Apple's) biggest claims to fame may be in the fields of personal entertainment and communication. If not for the iPod, Apple probably would have gone out of business years ago, computer innovations notwithstanding. I'm not being an "Apple hater," that's just the truth.
What an incredible thing! I am thrilled to see this happening. GO man, GO!
The man has style. I wish I could go with him. Is he hiring?
This is the kind of wasteful billionaire club nonsense that I just can't get behind. I am all for space exploration especially the moon ( helium 3 has been found there ) but trips for the rich to the edge of space that is just hedonism and arrogance and a waste of petrol.
The article states that virgin galactic would like to expand from just sub-orbital flights. How are they going to fund the research to get to orbital and beyond flights? Through wealthy billionaires wanting a ride of course.
I see no problem with it and could eventually see the company expanding to moon trips (in many years of course).
Honestly, fight for freedom, it just sounds like you're bitter and jealous when you say that. You could say the same for people buying yachts, private jets, big homes, etc. There are certain vacation destinations that, by virtue of their price alone, are out of reach to all but the very wealthy. Should all those places be closed down?
Though it's not my place to judge who among the billionaires "deserve" their wealth or not, many of them are self-made, and I can only tip my hat to them. Obviously, what they do with their money is entirely up to them. And Smear09 makes a good point, too, although saying "wealthy billionaires" is a bit redundant. :) Hehe.
Flight for freedom.....Right on, private companies like this will kill as many as wars do. This guy is like a self proclaimed God. Send me your weak, your young, your sick, your injuried, just make sure you send your money first.........too bad rich does not mean your smart also......
Man, you Occupy Wall Streeter types are really some stupid nitwits, aren't you? Can't stand to see anyone have it good. Just green with envy of anyone that shows resourcefulness, imagination, vision, creativity, independence, ingenuity - oh, I guess I could go on and on - just think of all of the things that you don't have. You would rather be a burdon to society, because the wealth that is created by the hard work of people that have those attributes should be re-distributed to you. It's only fair, after all.
Hey fight for freedom-2341533,
I know I'm comparing apples to oranges but do you remember that $4,000 "ridiculous nonsense" brick phone the rich used to carry in there hands to do business or whatever. Now, almost everybody has one and can hardly live without it... So yeah, to wasteful billionaire club nonsense!
Yes, it is Hallowe'en, and the naysayers are out in droves hoping for a bit of sweet. Green envy equal green bile.
No difference.Lament what you may be,were you to put in the time and effort.
We as a nation used to do this sort of thing ... now it's the top 1%
I see you voted for obama - the "rich" people take huge risks and often lose millions before they get it right - those rich people hire people like you unless you are a govt employee than you are set for life. The rich also buy yachts and airplanes - who builds those - obama and the govt. No people that need to work for a living - Bill Gates must be a bad man also - his "richness" employs 480,000 people - he is a billionaire (very bad and evil man) and he and his wife give millions upon millions to charities to help people - why don't you guys go after the actors that make millions for a movie or athletes that make 25million a year. Branson is a genius and most people in his position do the same as he does so stop blaming so called rich people having to bail out lazy people.
They do not hire. That's complete hogwash. Currently they are hoarding the cash while the 99% suffers in depression.
Econ-guy, You live in a very delusional worrd!! Businesses nweed workers, by the very definition!! Wake up from your dream, stop crying and GET TO WORK!!! Maybe then you can afford a ride on this thing.
Stephen aka the rightthinker - Econ-guy doesn't want to work, he is of the persuasion that those with much ought to disperse what they have rightfully earned through risk, and much effort to those who prefer to complain about the unfairness of it all. First of all that 99% nonsense ought to be tossed on the ash heap of lies. Most of the population go to work each day with the knowledge that they are building a better life for themselves and their families. They do not begrudge success, and they are not naive in the belief that all government, or corporations are inefficient, or evil. They understand that some are, but most provide services, and jobs to those willing to do the work, and do their part in keeping this great nation running. Ranters like Econ guy love to glorify the anti establishment crowd, but in this great world the models they espouse to follow like Greece, Portugal, Zimabwe, Cuba, etc are the losers. If Capital One charges fees that are akin to robbery then the free market says move to a competitor who doesn't charge. There are ways to seek redress short of shouting useless slogans to the relatively few who refuse to compete in the world of ideas, and American capitalism in the quest to continually make it better.
Oh so lovely for the idle rich! NM is next to the bottom in all indices for income, education, disease, poverty, etc. And yet - thanks to a prior pay-to-play governor and BFI of Branson - we have to pay for this. Guess how many New Mexicans - or the rest of the 99 percent of the USA - will ever benefit from this?
Your won't thats for sure, the rest of us might with innovation's from their project, as we all did with NASA.
Hey dum dum, we DON'T have to pay for this when it is done by private enterprise. It's only when government does stuff that we are footing the bill. Private industry ALWAYS does it better and the fact that taxpayers are not on the hook for it makes it that much better for you. These are the baby steps of an industry that will ultimately benefit more people that your unimaginative brain could ever fathom. I know that things like this shouldn't be done by anything but the gov'ment in your mind, but I dare say that your faith is misplaced. I for one, have more faith in people like Branson than I do in da gov'ment.