FAA Approves Construction of World’s First Commercial SpaceportDecember 22, 2008
 The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the go-ahead to start construction on the world's first commercial spaceport, which will be located in the New Mexico high desert. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) said it received its launch license for vertical and horizontal launch from the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation division. The license was issued after the spaceport plans passed an Environmental Impact Study — a requirement for allowing construction to begin. Spaceport America has been working closely with several aerospace companies, including Lockheed Martin, Rocket Racing/Armadillo Aerospace and Microgravity Enterprises. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, a division of the UK-based Virgin Atlantic, will be a core tenant at Spaceport America, offering tourists suborbital flights. The trip will take passengers who have paid $200,000 about 62 miles up into the sky for three to four minutes. The NMSA estimates that construction will begin in 2009 with the terminal and hangar facility for horizontal launches completed by late 2010. Photo: Spaceport America concept design URS/Foster + Partners |
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