Spaceport America Groundbreaking!

This was an exciting weekend for the space tourism industry!

The groundbreaking ceremonies for Spaceport America were held Friday at Las Cruces, New Mexico. However, the thing that everyone is talking about is the flyover that the VMS Eve made after the event. Yes, I said after. Initially, Eve was expected to make a flyover during the groundbreaking ceremony itself, but a technical issue delayed the flight. No matter, though, because the flight happened in spectacular fashion the following day. Eve flew from Phoenix, AZ and made half a dozen passes over the existing airport before departing for the Mojave airport. By my count, this marks Eve's tenth test flight.

And thanks to the blog Personal Spaceflight (the writer of which I am extremely jealous), we have an excellent video for all to share.



Trip to Space

Progress: 7.03%  Flight Time: 0:07:33

Solar Array

Progress: 3.28%  Power: 49W

Catch-Up: Spaceport America and Virgin Galactic Make It Official

After months of negotiations and planning, it has finally happened. On the last day of 2008, Spaceport America signed a twenty-year lease agreement with Virgin Galactic, providing them use of the spaceport for space tourism purposes.

Not only does this have the obvious significance, but this marks the last of three criteria that Spaceport America needed to meet to get federal funding for construction. The other two were to get a vehicle launch license from the FAA and the creation of a local tax district. Construction of Spaceport America will now begin soon.

And that's it. I am now caught up on all of the significant space tourism news. Done sucking that porcupine, NBC?

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

Catch-Up: Armadillo Teams Up with the Rocket Racing League

While I've run across references to the Rocket Racing League several times through following space travel news, I haven't mentioned them because I hadn't found anything that connected them in a significant manner to the space tourism industry. That has now changed.

The Rocket Racing League, owned by Rocket Racing, Inc., started primarily as an entertainment company. They support the development of rocket-powered aerial vehicles, which then race against each other. The stated ambition of the league is to one day race spacecraft against each other. The development toward this goal has in recent years contributed to advances in the spaceflight industry, and it has been speculated that the group is a good candidate to get involved in the space tourism industry.

And now it's official. In late October, a joint venture was announced between Rocket Racing Inc., Armadillo Aerospace, and the government of New Mexico to develop a vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) spacecraft with the capability of sending two tourists into space at or below the price of $100,000 each. These spacecraft would take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, and would allow tourists to float freely with a 360-degree view of their surroundings.

If this spacecraft actually gets built and used as stated, I may switch my personal ambitions from Virgin Galactic's offering to this one. Besides SpaceShipTwo, this is the only proposed space tourism craft that would allow people to float freely, and this one would have a much better view. And at half the price, that little purple bar at the bottom of my posts would get much bigger.

The spacecraft would basically be a modified and scaled-up version of that which Armadillo has slowly been planning for years. Here's a picture!

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05