SpaceShipTwo (Photo by RocknRoll/Virgin Galactic)
So Virgin Galactic unveiled on Monday its long-awaited SpaceShipTwo – the craft it plans to use to ferry paying passengers into suborbital space from Spaceport America. The big question now: When will we see it fly?
The original estimate of when we’d see Virgin’s craft performing its duties from a completed Spaceport America has already passed. Still, things are underway. The spaceport runway is under construction. And the rollout of SpaceShipTwo – a craft in which Virgin has invested about as much money as New Mexico has invested in the spaceport – is significant.
The state has appropriated $200 million for construction of the spaceport.
Gov. Bill Richardson was on hand for the unveiling of the craft in California on Monday. His office said in a news release that “the majority of construction” on the spaceport is set to be complete by December 2010, with construction on Virgin’s terminal and hangar beginning “soon.”
You can read more about Monday’s event from The Associated Press.
Govs. Bill Richardson and Arnold Schwarzenegger name SpaceShipTwo as the VSS Enterprise. (Photo by Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic)