WORLD
Spaceport`s construction heralds era of commercial space travel
Baku, September 7 (AZERTAC). Spaceport America is billed as the world`s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
Under construction roughly 45 miles north of Las Cruces on a remote desert landscape, the 18,000-acre Spaceport America site sports a nearly two-mile long, 200-foot-wide “spaceway” that can handle the suborbital traffic flow of pay-per-view space tourists using anchor tenant Virgin Galactic and its WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo system.
A futuristic-looking terminal hangar is nearly complete, adding to the facility`s space-age ambiance. But another vibe is in the air - a “build it and they will come” optimism, but one that also has its fingers crossed for good luck.
The spaceport Phase 1 construction work is now 90 percent done and the first phase is on schedule to be done by the end of 2011,” said David Wilson, head of Spaceport America Media Relations here in Las Cruces.
Wilson said that Phase I construction is made up of the spaceport`s large runway, which is completed, the terminal hangar facility that Virgin Galactic will use, the internal roads, fencing, electrical system, water/sewer systems and the dome-looking Space Operations Center.
Phase II construction, on which planning has already begun, is made up of the final build-out of the Vertical Launch Complex facility, the visitor/welcome centers in the neighboring towns of Truth or Consequences and Hatch and a visitor area on the main spaceport campus. The southern road from interstate I-25 to the spaceport is also part of Phase II construction.
Phase II is projected to be completed in 2013, after which time the spaceport becomes fully operational, Wilson said.