Branson opens world's first commercial spaceport

[Octafish]

Source: ABC News (Australia)

British billionaire Richard Branson has opened the world's first commercial spaceport in the New Mexico desert, the new home for his company Virgin Galactic.

The eccentric businessman, with usual flair, sported a black jacket and waves of hair flying as he inaugurated the building by breaking a champagne bottle against a hangar building while rappelling down the side of it.

"Spaceport America", as the site is called, will serve "as the operating hub for Virgin Galactic and is expected to house up to two WhiteKnightTwos and five SpaceShipTwos, in addition to all of Virgin's astronaut preparation facilities and mission control", the company said in a statement to the press.

About 150 people booked for travel on the first suborbital flights attended the event, the company said.

Also attending were the head of Virgin Galactic, George Whitesides, commercial director Stephen Attenborough, and famed US astronaut - and second person to step on the moon - Buzz Aldrin.


Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-18/richard-branson-builds-first-commercial-spaceport/3577148

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I dunno. As a Kennedy Democrat, I thought the first civilian spaceport should be news.

[Initech]

1. Something tells me this has Titanic written all over it

[Celefin]

2. As long as they don't attract Vogons. -nt-

[Donnachaidh]

9. can't we subject the republican party to some Vogon poetry?

:rofl:

[OnyxCollie]

12. Damn. You beat me to it.

Let's hope there's a Vogons Only restroom.

[tk2kewl]

8. pile in the forbes 500 for the maiden journey

[sam11111]

3. he bashes Unions. Also...privatize = shabby item for a hi price and lo wages.Plus owner donates

cash to the GOP.

Result...everyone's wages sink as the GOP passes wage-cut facilitating laws
Privatize should be the scariest word in the english language

[SoapBox]

6. Funny you should mention that...

Anyone follow any of his antics with all the airlines he's set up all over the world?

Each one is sort of like an independent company, but it's not...they use contractors to do
the hiring...and in most cases, you work like a dog (I had a Net friend that worked for one...he
said it was glamorized indentured service...the goal being, "...it's just a job..." and nothing more.)

[Erose999]

14. Theres a long and proud tradition of privitizing gov't functions....

... we call them "pirates".

[valerief]

4. At first I thought it was Branson, Missouri. I was picturing all those evangelicals

going to meet their master.

Hey, maybe this is Branson's way of getting rich of the greediest bastards in the world. Shoot them into outer space and don't let them return!

[KamaAina]

23. Not to mention all the washed-up stars of a bygone era

"In Soviet Union, rocket launches you!"

[SoapBox]

5. Fun! Fun! Fun! ...well, at least for the 1%.

While the 1% play games and fly into "space"...the 99% are just trying to figure
out how to put food on the table and is they will Just-Die-Quickly, if the GOPBaggers
take control and kill off "ObamaCare".

Do tell Mr. Branson...what are you doing to help out the 99% of the world?

[Lucinda]

11. Quite a lot actually. He is actively involved in quite a few issues

to make positive changes in the world. Darfur, peace initiatives, green issues, etc.

[kentauros]

20. Interestingly, Branson might never have become so successful

had Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells not been so popular :)

[Lucinda]

25. You never know do you? I'm glad he had the vision to take Oldfiled on

when other's were saying it wasn't marketable. I think that is part of what has made him successful in a lot of areas. He goes with his instincts.

[Fearless]

7. I wonder if this would be the tool of the middle class or just the wealthy elite.

I bet I could guess.

[rayofreason]

18. Do you use a cell phone? Computer? n/t

[Fearless]

27. Certainly not Virgin Mobile! Ugh!

[Roy Rolling]

10. yes...

but will I have to pay $30 for luggage and will the TSA do a strip search once I buy my $200,000 ticket? :shrug:

[hang a left]

24. For reals,

and how are the inflight meals?

[The Stranger]

13. "Two WhiteKnightTwos and five SpaceShipTwos"?

Is something the matter with his space bar?

[SoapBox]

15. Space BAG?

...Ladies and Gentlemen...the giant Sucking Sound that you are now hearing, is the air
being withdrawn from our Extra Jumbo Special Shuttle Shaped Space BAG!

opps...wrong product.

[CreekDog]

16. i thought this was about Branson, Missouri

:rofl:

[saras]

17. Do they have nonpolluting rockets now, or does he get a free ride for all that crap?

If we charged for rocket flights what it cost to clean up after them, no one on Earth would ever again send anything larger than an Estes model rocket into the air.

[kentauros]

21. "Clean-up" only depends on what kind of rocket they're using.

If it's all liquid-fueled (hydrogen & oxygen) then no clean-up is required. They could even get those fuels by solar and wind energy for the electric hydrolysis of water :)

[the_chinuk]

19. Get back to me when there are regular flights to Space Station One and Moonbase Alpha.

Seriously. As long as this is just Sir Richard spending more of his limitless wealth, there's nothing to see here. We aren't really moving out into the cosmos.

[kentauros]

22. Moonbase Alpha?

So, they're going to use their rockets to store our nuclear waste on the moon? :P

[iris27]

26. Count me as the third person who originally thought this was about Branson, MO.

I totally forgot that was the name of Virgin's owner!

The mental image of a launchpad on top of one of the Ozark foothills, and next door to Silver Dollar City, *was* pretty freaking hilarious, though!