Space tourist tells tales of rockets, diapers

SAN FRANCISCO--Knowing the feeling of weightlessness...enjoying NASA-issued shrimp cocktail...being called "space cowboy" by Russian cosmonauts. Cost: $20 million.

The experience of flying to the International Space Station: Priceless.

That may be the easiest way to sum up Greg Olsen's 10-day tour into orbit with the Russian Space Agency, as the third private citizen ever to make the trip. Olsen spoke about his October 2005 travels at the annual Society of Information Design luncheon, held here Wednesday.

"It was absolutely worth it," Olsen said to a roomful of scientists, after describing some of the sillier highlights, like flying through the shuttle or snacking on a floating Slim Jim.

On a more technical note, Olsen trained for five months, or 900 hours, in Moscow before rocketing roughly 200 miles into outer space, orbiting the Earth for two days, and then finally docking at the ISS for eight more days. In all, Olsen, who was 60 when the voyage launched, orbited the Earth 150 times before heading back to Russia. That's possible because the ISS travels at about 17,000 miles per hour, completing an orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes.

"The only way for someone like me to go up there is through the Russian Soyuz rocket," he said, adding: "It's quite an experience."

If private industry has its way, Olsen will soon be joined by many other people out to expand the idea of what it means to travel abroad. Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are building businesses around private space travel, and NASA itself is hosting contests to encourage companies and academics to build next-generation technology for commercial space flight.

A New Jersey resident, Olsen got the idea for his trip one morning in 2003 while reading the paper at a local Starbucks. Space Adventures--a U.S.-based space-travel agency contracted with Russia--had sent the first two private citizens to ISS, according to a news article that day. Olsen, who was recently flush with cash from the sale of his optical technology company Epitaxx to a telecom operator, decided it was a good time to pursue a long-held dream.

But his plans were temporarily thwarted in 2004, when Russian doctors found a black spot on his lung during routine X-rays before training was to start. After working with doctors for nine months, he was re-admitted to the program.

"People often ask me what I learned and I tell them, 'Don't give up,'" said Olsen, who now lectures at schools around the country, encouraging kids to study math and science. "I failed trigonometry in high school and eventually went on to get my Ph.D."

Olsen described his five-month training in Moscow as a cross between college and military boot camp, but for Russian cosmonauts. Training included a two-mile run every morning, Russian language classes and exams, fire-fighting drills and zero-gravity training, in which he practiced free-falling for 30 seconds at a time.

Olsen traveled with two astronauts, a Russian and an American, but he still had to speak the language, which was the hardest part of the training, he said. At liftoff the three men had waited two and half hours in cramped conditions, and then flew another four-and-a-half hours before having the ability to move around. "We all wore Huggies diapers, and we all had to use them, too."

In the Soyuz, the crew made 34 orbits before docking at the ISS, where there were two other astronauts manning the station. The ISS is fairly close to Earth at 226 miles in outer space, and it measures about 200 feet long. Olsen likened his experience in the station to a long and weightless camping trip. No showers, no sinks, no running water. The crew uses wet wipes to clean up and an onboard vacuum to urinate. The crew straps into sleeping bags to sleep upright.

When Olsen landed, he needed help to stand and walk because of effects to the vestibular system in zero gravity and the shaky re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. It took him three or four days to regain normalcy.

It also took him some time to regain his normal height. He was 1 inch taller for a day, thanks to weightless effects that cause the vertebrae to relax and stretch.

Rivals race for UAE launch space

Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures eye Ras Al-Khaimah as potential base for suborbital tourism flights

Rival space tourism ventures Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures could go head-to-head over plans to launch suborbital flights from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson says Virgin Galactic will talk with authorities from the northernmost emirate Ras Al-Khaimah, where Space Adventures already has spaceport development plans in place.
“We are going to have discussions over the next week with the people who have approached us. It is a perfect region from which to operate flights and if discussions go well, it’s quite likely the UAE will see space needle Virgin Galactic flights from here in the not-too-distant future,” said Branson, in Dubai last week for the launch of Virgin Atlantic’s service from London Heathrow.
Space Adventures in February announced plans to develop a commercial spaceport in Ras Al-Khaimah to add to other potential spaceport locations in Asia and North America.
The venture says the Ras Al-Khaimah spaceport development project will cost at least $265 million with shared investments by Space Adventures and the government of Ras Al-Khaimah and unspecified other funding. The UAE Department of Civilian Aviation has cleared suborbital spaceflights.
First flights for Virgin Galactic’s suborbital service will be from Mojave airport in California before moving to its preferred centre of operations in New Mexico. Virgin Galactic’s network of potential future spaceports includes the north of Scotland or Sweden, Ras Al-Khaimah and Australia.
Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn says the space shuttle design for SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is frozen with construction of the commercial prototype expected to start this year. “We have taken, for commercial reasons, the deliberate decision of not unveiling the design until early next year,” says Whitehorn.
Virgin Galactic has increased the size of the SS2’s carrier vehicle, White Knight 2, to the size of a Boeing 757, while SS2 itself will be the size of a large-cabin Gulfstream IV business jet, designed to allow space tourists to experience weightlessness earth from space and spectacular views.
Whitehorn says that so far $13.1 million has been paid in deposits by 157 prospective customers.

Billionaire flips over his home in space

Billionaire space traveler Charles Simonyi, right, floats upside down Monday during a news conference in the Zvezda service module after his arrival at the international space station with Russian office space cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin (front row). In the background are members of the station's current crew, Michael Lopez-Alegria and (obscured from view) Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams.
KOROLYOV, Russia - Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. billionaire bringing a gourmet meal arrived at the international space station Tuesday — to a warm welcome from current crewmen and the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart.

The lifestyle guru was among Russian and American officials and visitors monitoring the docking at Russian Mission Control, on Moscow's outskirts, as onboard TV cameras showed the Soyuz nearing the station and then jerking to a stop. Stewart is a friend of Charles Simonyi, the American who shelled out $20-25 million to be the world's fifth paying private space jam.

The Soyuz capsule docked automatically with the ISS and Simonyi and two Russian cosmonauts floated into the space station about 90 minutes later.

The Uncomfortable Reality of Sex in Space

I picture NASA shifting uncomfortably in its chair, running its fingers under its collar and wondering if it's the only one feeling warm now that sex is in the air.

Or beyond the air, as the case may be.

You see, the space agency is almost 50 years old, and while it likes to think it's a leader in exploring new frontiers, it has yet to shake off the fetters of its childhood when it comes to sex, romance and relationships.

Yet it is starting to talk more publicly about the special considerations associated with long space flights, such as how to deal with illness and even death when you can't just turn around and come home. And sex is on the list for future discussions.

In the past, NASA has not been comfortable talking about sexuality, says science journalist Laura Woodmansee, who encountered resistance while researching her book Sex in Space.

"It's almost as if (retired astronauts) agreed not to talk about sex when they left (NASA)," she says. "And the current ones worry about their jobs and how it would make them look."

Yet as humans begin to spend more time in space and to travel further from Earth, space agencies will need to factor sex into their equations.

"We will have to address crew compatibility, sexuality issues, whether there is a necessity for sexual activity," says David Steitz, NASA senior public affairs officer.

He had the grace to laugh when I interrupted with a "Hell, yeah!"

But I was serious, too. We cannot expect astronauts to spend three years in a spacecraft and not have sex -- of some kind. Probably with each other, and likely in more than one combination.

Sex in space presents a number of challenges beyond tangible matters like zero gravity or awkward enclosures. In fact, the physics should be the least of NASA's concerns.

It's the touchy-feely bit that the agency will need to consider seriously. Blindly applying Earth-bound standards that astronauts cannot follow under space-voyage conditions will only lead to guilt and shame.

What happens if one person in the spaceship makes a romantic overture, only to be rebuffed? What happens if an astronaut in a relationship back home falls in love with another member of the mission? What to do -- send a breakup text message from Mars?

How do you handle love, sex, romance, heartbreak, jealousy, hurt, unrequited longing, crushes, loneliness and twitterpation when you're 18 months away from Earth and perhaps unsure whether you'll make it back?

You cope with it the way you do everything else in space. You rely on your intelligence, your commitment to the common good and your training.

If NASA invites me to take part in discussions about sexual standards in space -- it could happen -- I will suggest sending all candidates into the adult internet for a year.

They don't have to have cybersex or fall in love, but they should participate in different types of adult communities until they become comfortable with the wide range of human sexual relationships. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would gladly volunteer to show astronauts the ropes.

Online, astronauts (and their partners, if they have any) can learn how to deal with sexual situations similar to those they will face in space, with one important difference: an escape hatch.

They can observe and experiment with sex without possession, partnership without monogamy, sexual pleasure without expectation of roses or breakfast.

They can discover group love, bond with a special someone, or both. They can try letting go of jealousy and fear, figure out how to protect themselves from other people's drama, and develop healthy ways to cope with desire, love and rejection.

Some astronauts might discover they are comfortable with polyamory or bisexuality while others might reaffirm their commitment to monogamy. The important thing is that they practice living and working respectfully with others regardless of who is sleeping with whom.

We need to acknowledge that humans will bring our sexuality with us into space and that includes all the complexities of relationships as well as the relatively simple matter of bodies. NASA cannot avoid confronting those complexities, especially now that the public knows even astronauts sometimes confuse obsession with love.

"How long can humans go without sex?" is not the right question.

I don't care if you have a same-sex crew of great-grandparents who have never had a flicker of sexual desire in their entire lives. Lock a group of humans into a ship, sail them through space and time, and it won't take long for that deep, ancient need for touch and intimacy to surface.

For now, Steitz says, NASA is still trying to work out how to keep crewmembers physically healthy on an interplanetary journey.

"Obviously mental health is as important as the physical. The difference is, it's easier to develop physical standards for human bodies than for psychological or behavioral well-being," he says. "I can tell you how much bone mass you have, what your muscle strength is, how much oxygen you're breathing. But it's much harder to try to figure out 'are you happy?'"

Once they develop standards for maintaining physical health, he says, they can start designing a spacecraft. Only then do the less technical matters come to the fore.

Like where to stow the chocolate.
Regina Lynn

Do you want to travel to space? 1st stop: Sarasota

By SARA KENNEDY
SARASOTA --A local travel agency is marketing an unusual product: trips to space.

Ryan Hilton, co-owner of Admiral Travel Gallery of Sarasota and Lakewood Ranch, is among 47 exclusive agents worldwide selling Virgin Galactic's commercial flights into space.

The trips aren't for everyone. For one thing, they cost $200,000 for a few minutes of weightlessness. For another, the spacecraft for the flights is still being tested and flights aren't expected to start until 2009.

"It's not your average experience, price and contract," acknowledged Hilton Wednesday from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was about to take a group of tourists on a 10-day trip into the bush. "Because it's so new, that is probably the most exciting element. It's open to anyone."

Diana Cloud, 52, of Sarasota, has signed on for seat number 161 on the six-passenger spaceship to be launched from the Mojave Desert. The spaceship, which sits atop a jet carrier aircraft, flies to 50,000 feet before it leaves the mother ship and continues on to the edge of the atmosphere at 360,000 feet, or nearly 70 miles.

Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire Sir Richard Branson, is offering the space travel.

Cloud, who will receive two days of training before the flight, is expected to be on the 30th trip from Earth. "It's very exciting. She's a pioneer," Hilton said.

He thought of Cloud for the trip because her previous jaunts had revealed a decidedly adventurous streak. She has flown in a supersonic jet in South Africa and experienced zero gravity in a 727 cargo jet.

"Once I realized it was a great product match for her, we presented it, gave her the details," said Hilton.

The aptly named Cloud, who runs a consulting company and is also a licensed pilot, said she was immediately fascinated about the idea of space travel because "I want to see Earth with my own eyes.

"It's everything about spiritual," she said. "If you've read interviews with the astronauts, they say they'll never be the same and I do believe that. I've been blessed to be successful in life, I have extreme gratitude for that. It's an opportunity of a lifetime."

The spacecraft, flown with two pilots, will fly nearly 2,500 mph to just beyond the Earth's atmosphere in a daylong trip. The company has not yet set a date for its first flight, according to the company Web site, www.virgin-galactic.com.

"It is these spaceships that will allow affordable suborbital space tourism for the first time in the history of the universe," the Web site said.

Hundreds of other passengers from every continent have signed up, as well, according to Hilton, but Cloud is the only one who has paid a deposit through his agency.

Hilton had to compete for the privilege of selling such trips by submitting a business plan. In January, he attended three days of training at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

So, after hearing all the details, was Hilton tempted to sign up himself?

"I would do it in a heartbeat, maybe, one day," he laughed.

From the Iron Curtain to the Final Frontier

Charles Simonyi, 58, Microsoft billionaire and CEO of Intentional Software
(Fortune Magazine) -- Charles Simonyi, the software programmer credited with developing Word and Excel, has a billion Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500) dollars to his name, squires Martha Stewart on his arm, and last month became the fifth so-called space tourist, spending 13 days at the International Space Station.

It has been quite a ride since he was born in postwar, newly Stalinist Hungary in 1948 and escaped a life of bread lines and communist deprivation by moving to the U.S. to attend the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford. For Simonyi his latest jaunt wasn't just an ego trip, because he sees himself as a champion for private-sector space exploration.

A few days after his capsule touched down in a field in central Kazakhstan, he spoke with Fortune's Tim Arango.

What did you miss the most while you were in space?

I missed a cold beer. The first thing I got when I got back was an apple. I started to eat it with such enthusiasm, but they took it away. They really just want you to be measured and slow when you return.

Do you foresee a day when space tourism is not just the province of billionaires - when it will be as affordable as plane travel?

Yes - the only question is when. I think the emphasis is going to move from government efforts to private efforts. Many of these ideas will pay off and reduce the cost of lifting humans to space. I'm talking to [Nikolai] Sevastianov, the head of [rocket designer] Energia, and he's very intent to reduce the cost to one-third of what it is today.

The trip is said to have cost $25 million. How much of that money went toward research and how much went to Space Adventures, the company that planned the trip?

I'm not going to confirm that number, and I certainly have no idea how the money is apportioned. The way I look at it is as a contribution to space. God knows, the space business, especially in Russia, can use help. The flight itself was a bonus. It was never assured that the flight would take place. I was training for more than six months, and at any point during that time there could have been a problem that prevented me from flying.

You left Microsoft in 2002 to found Intentional Software Corp. Is there work for your firm to do within the space industry?

There is work for our company in every industry where there are complex organizations and complex procedures. Hospitals come to mind. Many structures of government. And that includes space stations, which actually are not as complex as they seem.

What's more complex: preparing for travel in space or organizing a dinner party at Martha Stewart's Turkey Hill estate?

Preparing to go to space is more complicated, but not by much.
CNN.com

Space tourist Simonyi's station souvenirs

April 9, 2007 — Charles Simonyi has his passport with him, ready for his arrival aboard the International Space Station (ISS) today.

"Just to get it stamped, not that I think you should have to have a passport to go to space," Simonyi, a former Microsoft software developer, told collectSPACE before his launch this past Saturday.

The government-issued document is among Simonyi's small stash of souvenirs and personal items that he has packed for his 10-day stay on the orbiting outpost.

As the fifth space tourist, Simonyi will spend his time conducting experiments for international space agencies including the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Hungarian Space Office. In his free time, the American billionaire plans to blog about his experience on his website, communicate with students on the ground and take many photographs.

"I am bringing up a lot of camera equipment and a lot of blank tapes and cassettes," said Simonyi, who has also brought an MP3 player with over 1,600 tracks loaded "all legally" with classical and rock music.

He also plans to establish the station's first reading room.

"I am taking some books. I say I am starting a library — there are books up there, but anyway I'm the first one to say it should be a library, so I am taking up a couple of books." The books he is bringing are Faust by Johanne Wolfgang von Goethe and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.

Delivering enrichment of a different type, Simonyi also carries a six-course meal chosen by close friend Martha Stewart and prepared by French chef Alain Ducasse. It includes roasted quail, duck breast confit and shredded chicken parmentier.

History and heritage


As a high school student in Budapest, Hungary, Simonyi first learned to program computers on the Soviet Ural II. Moving to the U.S. to attend the University of California at Berkeley and then earning a doctorate at Stanford, he began working in 1972 at the Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he created Bravo, the first WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) text editor.

From there, Simonyi joined Microsoft in 1981, leading the teams that developed Word and Excel. Today, he is the president and CEO of Intentional Software Corporation, a company he founded in 2002 to focus on improving ways in which organizations write software.

In a nod to his nation of birth, Simonyi has with him three contest-winning drawings created by Hungarian children. Held by the Hungarian Red Cross, the contest called for children in over 50 schools across the country to submit drawings that depict the organization helping people on and off the planet. Simonyi will use the ISS's ink stamp to mark the drawings as having been on-board, and will return the pictures to the artists during a ceremony to be held after his flight.

Simonyi said in a statement that he was "honored to support the Hungarian Red Cross and to involve children from Hungary and around the world in the wonder of space travel." Using amateur radio, Simonyi also plans to speak directly with high school students from aboard the station in three events across the United States.

Symbolizing his history with computer software, which ultimately led him to being able to afford the $25 million trip to space, Simonyi has brought a Ural II paper tape. "To remind me where it all started," Simonyi said of the memento.

Simonyi's heritage and history are also represented by the design of his personal mission insignia. The diamond shaped patch combines an outer rectangle of Hungarian, Russian and American flags, and an inner circle that has depictions of the station and Soyuz spacecraft inside a constellation of stars.

"It became evident that we needed to have a patch, so I was trying to think of what would be the good motives that you would want to show on the patch and of course, what might be the motto for the flight... it became 'From Ideas to Reality'," Simonyi described to collectSPACE.

"'Reality' of course, was being there, the space station, Soyuz and so on. We needed an illustration for an 'idea'. In a number of different ways, the simplest idea is the theorem of Pythagoras. How to represent the theorem of Pythagoras?" Simonyi asked rhetorically of the relation between three sides of a triangle in geometry.

"We had a couple of brainstorms and it went through a couple of different iterations. It was first a cutout of the shape of the theorem of Pythagoras... [with] the reality behind it. That didn't work graphically."

"Somehow the idea of a constellation that looks like the theorem [was suggested], which is a fascinating idea by itself because there is no such thing. Imagine if there would be, that would be quite remarkable! But no, we imagined a theorem in the form of a constellation, it was an interesting thought and it worked graphically very well, so that's it. And then of course, the background of flags is pretty important, too," explained Simonyi.

In addition to the patches sewn on his space- and flight- suits, Simonyi took with him a small supply of emblems as well as U.S. and Hungarian flags he wrote in his blog "will make excellent gifts some day to museums at home in Seattle and in Hungary."

More to add to his collection

Even before applying to fly in space, Simonyi collected space artifacts as a hobby.

"I have a few pieces of clothing from early Russian [cosmonauts]. I have Komarov's sweatpants, or at least sweatpants that are said to have belonged to Komarov, things like that, but mostly written materials," Simonyi revealed in his interview with collectSPACE.

"I have a few checklists. For example, I have several of the checklists that [Apollo 11 moonwalker] Buzz Aldrin has been selling. I love documentation, checklists or manuals; all the Apollo manuals, the Gemini manuals, all the manuals."

Simonyi isn't the only collector coming on-board the ISS when Soyuz TMA-10 docks just after 2:00 p.m. CDT this afternoon. One of his two traveling crew mates, Fyodor Yurchikhin collects stamps, that is when he has the time.

"I collect stamps," Yurchikhin proudly told collectSPACE before his launch. "I cannot tell you that I collect now the stamps because I should have enough free time, I do not have enough free time. Now, my collection waits for me."

He may not have stamps aboard, but Yurchikhin, who is set to take over command of the station, has something just as, if not more, meaningful along with him: a stuffed toy dog.

"My small dog is with me because this dog lives with me I think more than 30 years from my high school because my favorite teacher give me this toy. It's like talisman for me. Everywhere in my travels this dog is with me."

Indeed, this isn't the first time the toy dog has traveled to space. It accompanied Yurchikhin on his first mission in 2002 with the crew of STS-112 on space shuttle Atlantis.



Like his fellow cosmonaut, Soyuz TMA-10 commander Oleg Kotov also brought a toy, a small black cat named "Dimlar," after his two children Dima and Lara. The doll could be seen hanging in the Soyuz cabin during launch.

Yurchikhin and Kotov will remain on the ISS, replacing Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin, who will return to Earth with Simonyi on April 20.

Spaceport America: First Looks at a New Space Terminal

GOLDEN, Colorado -- Architectural and engineering teams have begun shaping the look and feel of New Mexico's Spaceport America, taking the wraps off new images today that showcase the curb appeal of the sprawling main terminal and hangar at the futuristic facility.

Last month, a team of U.S. and British architects and designers had been recommended for award to design the primary terminal and hangar facility at Spaceport America - structures that symbolize the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport.

Selected from an international field of eleven firms, the winning design is the work of URS Corporation - a large design and engineering enterprise - teamed with Foster + Partners of the United Kingdom, a group with extensive experience in crafting airport buildings.

When the 100,000 square-foot (9,290 square-meter) facility is completed -- the centerpiece of the world's first, purpose-built, commercial spaceport -- the structures will serve as the primary operating base for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliner, and also as the headquarters for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.

The terminal and hangar facility will also provide room for aircraft and spacecraft, and Virgin Galactic's operations facilities, including pre-flight and post-flight facilities, administrative offices, and lounges. The spacious maintenance hangar can hold two White Knight Two carrier aircraft and five SpaceShipTwo spaceliners - vessels now under construction at Scaled Composites in Mojave, California.

Destination experience

The terminal and hangar facility are projected to cost about $31 million, and will provide a "Destination Experience" for visitors to Spaceport America. Virgin Galactic intends to sign a 20-year lease for approximately 84,000 square feet (7,803 square meters) in the building.

"The URS/Foster team presented us with a concept that blends sensitivity to the environment, cutting-edge technology and a stunning image and shape when viewed from high above," noted Kelly O'Donnell, chair of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority in a press statement last month.

The design chosen is a low-lying, striking bit of construction that uses natural earth as a berm, and relies on passive energy for heating and cooling, with photovoltaic panels for electricity and water recycling capabilities. A rolling concrete shell acts as a roof with massive windows opening to a view of the runway and spacecraft.

According to a press statement released today, the low-lying, organic shape resembles a rise in the landscape, and will use local materials and regional construction techniques.

"A careful balance between accessibility and privacy is achieved, as visitors and astronauts enter the building through a deep channel cut in the landscape," the statement noted. "The walls will form an exhibition area leading to a galleried level above the hangar that houses the spacecraft and on through to the terminal building. Natural light enters via skylights, with a glazed façade reserved for the terminal building, establishing a platform for spectacular views onto the runway."

Construction on the 100,000 square-foot hangar and terminal facility is scheduled to begin in 2008.

Environmentally efficient landmark

Renderings of the main terminal and hangar facility were to be unveiled today during a press conference held at the Pan American Center on the New Mexico State University campus in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Announcements regarding the winning team and design selected were held up due to the tragic Mojave, California Air and Space Port accident on July 26, in which a test stand explosion killed three Scaled employees during a routine test.

Company founder of Foster + Partners, Lord Norman Foster, said in an earlier press comment that the world's first space terminal would be a technically complex building. The facility not only will provide a dramatic experience for the astronauts and visitors, "but will set an ecologically sound model for future spaceport facilities," he added.

Jens Deichmann, vice president of URS Corporation, accented their group's involvement: "Our team of New Mexico, regional, and international talent is excited to help the State of New Mexico and Virgin Galactic advance their goals of commercial space travel and scientific and engineering education."

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is currently finalizing contract negotiations with URS and Foster + Partners. The team will then begin working with the NMSA and Virgin Galactic to finalize the design of the facility, and the NMSA expects to put the construction of the facility out for bids in the first half of 2008.

Construction of Spaceport America would begin in 2008, given a Federal Aviation Administration issuing of a site operator's license to the NMSA. Completion is expected in late 2009 or early 2010.

Year of the spaceship

Founded by Branson, a British entrepreneur and adventurer, Virgin Galactic was created to undertake the challenge of making private space travel available to everyone.

"The deal between New Mexico and URS working with Sir Norman Foster will produce a spectacular, but very environmentally efficient landmark for the new era of space travel," explained Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic.

"The design for Spaceport America is not only breathtaking but also practical which is also what I believe SpaceShipTwo and its launch aircraft WhiteKnight Two will be regarded as when their respective designs are unveiled next January," Whitehorn told SPACE.com.

Whitehorn added that, with the commencement of construction at Spaceport America and the completion of construction of White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo, he and his Virgin Galactic team are now confident that 2008 will be "The Year of the Spaceship."
www.space.com