At New Mexico’s Spaceport America, the planned home port of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo fleet for suborbital space tourist flights, work is nearing completion on the facility's Terminal Hangar.
A rocket launched by UP Aerospace heads skyward Monday, Sept. 25, 2006, in Upham, N.M. The unmanned rocket that took off in the inaugural launch from New Mexico's spaceport crashed in the desert, failing in its mission to reach suborbital space.
A view of the Spaceport America terminal building under construction. The new commercial spaceport is rising out of the American southwestern desert near Las Cruces, NM, during its runway dedication ceremony on Oct. 22, 2010.
The Virgin Galactic suborbital vehicle SpaceShipTwo, called Enterprise, soars over New Mexico's Spaceport America terminal – still under construction – under the belly of its huge mothership WhiteKnightTwo during the spaceport’s runway dedication ceremony on Oct. 22, 2010.
WhiteKnightTwo and VSS Enterprise appear on the Spaceport America runway during the runway dedication on October 22, 2010.
WhiteKnightTwo and VSS Enterprise fly over the spaceport during the dedication ceremony on October 22, 2010.
Dawn breaks in this new depiction of Spaceport America in New Mexico, the future home of Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceliner fleet.
Spaceport America is to blossom in New Mexico, a commercial venture to support suborbital and orbital access to space of passengers, satellites, and cargo. It is to be home base for Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceline operations.
An artist's concept of Spaceport America, a suborbital spaceport under construction in New Mexico.
Conceptual artwork depicts cross-section of proposed New Mexico spaceport. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has struck a 20-year lease on the futuristic spaceport to handle the firm's suborbital spaceliner operations.
The mothership WhiteKnightTwo carries Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft SpaceShipTwo to New Mexico's Spaceport America, which will be its home base once the facility is complete.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson sees a spaceport as revenue-generator for the state. In September 7 ceremony, he announced that the first rocket launch from the still-to-be-built spaceport is slated for March 2006.
Public space travel is fast approaching with spaceports being designed to handle suborbital and eventual orbital traffic. Starchaser Industries is hard at work on a space tourism initiative via its Thunderstar project.
UP Aerospace will soon start flying from New Mexico spaceport site its SpaceLoft XL suborbital rocket – a key element in the firm’s business strategy to bring the cost of access to space down to Earth. Image
New Mexico Governor Richardson interviewed by SPACE.com columnist Leonard David.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo sits on the new runway at New Mexico's Spaceport America.
Lockheed Martin's elusive prototype autonomous rocket plane roars down launch rail in second test flight from Spaceport America in New Mexico in an August 2008.
Lockheed Martin space plane demonstrator launching from site of New Mexico's Spaceport America.
An UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket blasts towards suborbital space on April 28, 2007 from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico.
