Richard Branson Announces Virgin Galactic Move to Spaceport America this Summer
15/05/2019.
[Santa Fe - Nuevo Mexico] USA
metalocus, ÁLVARO MUÑOZ
metalocus, ÁLVARO MUÑOZ
On May 10, 2019, Virgin Galactic announced the move of the spaceline staff and the space vehicles to their commercial operations headquarters at Spaceport America, New Mexico. These offices are located in Spaceport America, designed by Norman Foster in 2014, being the first private spaceport in the world.
Road leading up to Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
Aerial view of Spaceport America with WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve on tarmac. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
Aerial view of Spaceport America with WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve on tarmac. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve on tarmac at Spaceport America. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve and SpaceShipTwo towed out of hangar at Spaceport America. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve on tarmac at Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
Front view of Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve and SpaceShipTwo in hangar at Spaceport America. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, VMS Eve on tarmac at Spaceport America. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
First captive carry flight for VMS Eve and VSS Unity. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
VMS Eve cradles VSS Unity on its first flight. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
VSS Unity, First Powered Flight. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
irgin Galactic Makes Space for Second Time in Ten Weeks with Three On Board. Image courtesy of VirginGalactic.
Ground floor plan. Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space, by Foster+Partners
Roof floor plan. Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space, by Foster+Partners
Sections. Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space, by Foster+Partners
At a press conference last 10th May, at the New Mexico State Capitol Building in Santa Fe, hosted by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson announced that Virgin Galactic’s development and testing program had advanced sufficiently to move the spaceline staff and space vehicles from Mojave, California to their commercial operations headquarters at Spaceport America, New Mexico.
The move, which involves more than 100 staff, will commence immediately and continue through the summer, to minimise schooling disruption for families.
The move, which involves more than 100 staff, will commence immediately and continue through the summer, to minimise schooling disruption for families.
"Virgin Galactic's announcement today is an incredibly exciting development for both our state's economic future and the future of aerospace in general. With these workers here and with these plans firmly in place, I'm certain New Mexico will serve as the launchpad for the rapid industry growth we've been expecting for so many years. Today marks the beginning of the next chapter of aerospace in New Mexico."
-New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
Virgin Galactic partnered with New Mexico in an agreement which saw the state complete construction of Spaceport America, the world’s first, purpose-built commercial spaceport, and Virgin Galactic committing to center its commercial spaceflight activities at the facilities once its vehicles and operations were ready for service.
“The first photograph of Earth from space was taken over New Mexico in October of 1946. How inspiring and appropriate that the state will soon host the first regular commercial spaceflight service, which will enable thousands of people to see Earth from space with their own eyes. We are deeply grateful to the citizens and leadership of New Mexico for having the vision to create a better future for their children and all of humanity.”
-George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company
This announcement signals the final countdown to a regular commercial spaceflight service for paying passengers and science research from Spaceport America. It follows the great progress in operational readiness at Spaceport, including the completion of the hanger, offices, fuel farm, warehouse and antenna for telemetry and communications, as well as interior fit-out. It also positions New Mexico on the frontline of technological innovation and, as one of the very few places on Earth that plays host to regular human spaceflight launches, a magnet for inward investment.
“Our Virgin Galactic adventure has been intertwined with New Mexico and Spaceport America right from the start and our stories have unfolded together. New Mexico delivered on its promise to build a world-first and world-class spaceport. Today, I could not be more excited to announce, that in return, we are now ready to bring New Mexico a world-first, world-class spaceline. Virgin Galactic is coming home to New Mexico where together we will open space to change the world for good.”
-Sir Richard Branson
Virgin Galactic will reposition its space system consisting of carrier aircraft VMS Eve and spaceship VSS Unity from Mojave, California to Spaceport America over the summer months once cabin interior and other work has been completed by Virgin Galactic’s sister manufacturing organisation, The Spaceship Company (TSC). It will complete its final test flights from New Mexico for commencing a full commercial service for passengers and research payload. TSC will remain based in Mojave where it will continue building Virgin Galactic’s planned fleet of SpaceShipTwo and carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo vehicles.
“Going to space and exploring the universe is a team effort. It takes strong partnerships that are courageous and also vulnerable. Sir Richard’s visionary leadership to take meaningful risks along with New Mexico leadership’s far-sighted commitment - epitomizes the successful partnerships that are truly needed for the space industry. I and the rest of the Spaceport America staff are extremely excited to support Virgin Galactic’s continued growth and future success here in New Mexico.”
-Dan Hicks, CEO of Spaceport America
More information
Architects
Foster + Partners
Collaborator
Environmental Engineer.-URS Corporation, Foster + Partners
Structural Engineer.-URS Corporation
Quantity Surveyor.-Balis and Company
Collaborating Architect.-SMPC Architects
Client
New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA)
Area
10,233 m²
Dates
2006-2014
Richard Branson Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is the world’s first commercial spaceline. Founded by Sir Richard Branson and owned by the Virgin Group and Mubadala Investment Company, Virgin Galactic will transform access to space for the benefit of life on Earth. To date, over 600 men and women from over 50 countries—greater than the total number of humans who have ever been to space—have reserved places to fly on Virgin Galactic’s reusable space launch system, consisting of carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo and spacecraft SpaceShipTwo. SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo are manufactured and tested in Mojave, California by its manufacturing partner, The Spaceship Company (TSC). Spaceflight operations will be based at Spaceport America in New Mexico, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
NORMAN FOSTER
Norman Foster is considered by many to be the most prominent architect in Britain. He won the 1999 Pritzker Architecture Prize and the 2009 Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes Prize.
Lord Foster rebuilt the Reichstag as a new German Parliament in Berlin and designed a contemporary Great Court for the British Museum. He linked St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tate Modern with the Millennium Bridge, a steel footbridge across the Thames. He designed the Hearst Corporation Building in Manhattan, at 57th Street and Eighth Avenue.
He was born in Manchester, England, in 1935. Among his firm’s many other projects are London’s City Hall, the Bilbao Metro in Spain, the Canary Wharf Underground Station in London and the renovated courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington.
In the 1970s, Lord Foster was one of the most visible practitioners of high-tech architecture that fetishized machine culture. His triumphant 1986 Hong Kong and Shanghai bank building, conceived as a kit-of-parts plugged into a towering steel frame, was capitalism's answer to the populist Pompidou Center in Paris.
Nicolai Ouroussoff, The Times’s architecture critic, has written that although Lord Foster’s work has become sleeker and more predictable in recent years, his forms are always driven by an internal structural logic, and they treat their surroundings with a refreshing bluntness.
Awarded the Prince of Asturias of the Arts 2009.
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