As part of the dedication of Spaceport America yesterday, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo made its first landing on the runway in southern New Mexico that will become its home. VG is basing its operations at Spaceport America and plans to begin commercial, suborbital flights in from nine to 18 months.
Sir Richard Branson, founder and chair of VG, will, together with his family, be on the first passenger-carrying flight of SpaceShipTwo. Branson also said VG plans to move quickly from suborbital to orbital flights. It is even planning to compete for a NASA contract to ferry crew to and from ISS. Whether orbital flights could be accomplished using VG's current aircraft-based launch system, or whether VG would have to go to the classic rocket booster launch, is unclear. The launch system, along with the method of dealing with the heat of re-entry, will likely determine if VG's orbital ships will be able to use the runway its suborbital ship just helped dedicate.
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