Birth of the

Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, and bring astrotourism to reality. By Michael Behar PHOTO CREDIT

102 VIRTUOSO LIFE Birth the of Spaceliner

PHOTO CREDIT WhiteKnightTwo Mexico. New in home at JULY Dawn spaceship its and

| way: anew of AUGUST 2012

103 he view from the Upham Hills, secret site in nearby Roswell. Since then, aerospace has played an a lowly cluster of wind-scoured knolls pro- integral role in the state’s economy and identity, chiefly through truding about 500 feet from New Mexico’s projects at White Sands Missile Range, the largest U.S. military com- high desert, encompasses mostly hardscrab- plex, which abuts Spaceport America’s property. ble flats. Three years ago, had you looked Now, with the terminal in place, pavers finishing a 12,000-foot- t north a dozen miles, you’d have seen nothing – long runway, and 7,500 square miles of restricted airspace, the ranchland and perhaps a few roaming cattle. Today, however, a countdown is on: Sometime in the near future, ’s humongous orb about the size of a Costco punctuates the bleak- will lift off from Spaceport America carrying six ness. What looks like an alien saucer is, in fact, Virgin Galactic’s passengers at a time aboard SpaceShipTwo, a rocket-powered aircraft new terminal and facilities at Spaceport America, the world’s first dreamed up by aerospace whiz and the future-minded commercial spaceport. engineers at his company, Scaled Composites. It’s the culmination, some say, of New Mexico’s manifest des- A jet-powered mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo (also a Scaled Com- tiny, set forth in the 1930s when Robert Goddard, the preeminent posites creation), will ferry the spaceship to its 50,000-foot launch patriarch of rocketry, developed the first guided missiles at a altitude. There, SpaceShipTwo will uncouple from WhiteKnightTwo,

1. Air launch at 50,000 feet/9.47 miles: Release from mother ship and launch to Mach 4. , 360,000 2. 328 000 feet/62.12 miles: Virgin Galactic’s 350,000 Kármán line, where passengers become maximum planned altitude space travelers. 3. 361,000 feet/68.37 miles: 2 Kármán line: Virgin Galactic’s maximum planned altitude; Internationally 300,000 recognized boundary SpaceShipTwo feathers after rocket burn. of space 4. Atmospheric reentry in feathered position. 5. 70,000 feet/13.26 miles: 250,000 SpaceShipTwo defeathers into glider mode. 3 6. Glide home to Spaceport America.

200,000

150,000

Highest manned balloon flight 100,000

Concorde 50,000

Commercial airlines

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4 alactic Flight Plan G 5 FEET: Virgin

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104 VIRTUOSO LIFE

ignite a rocket motor and accelerate The players (from left): to 2,500 miles per hour in a mere ten Aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, seconds. At nearly 70 miles up, hav- Virgin Galactic founder Richard ing exited Earth’s atmosphere, pas- Branson, and SpaceShipTwo in feathered descent. sengers will drift silently for about six minutes in weightless bliss before commencing the long, gentle glide back to Spaceport America. forays into the music industry, telecommunications, hospitality, “We intend to put 500 people into space during our first year,” and beyond, “Richard is very passionate about this one.” says Jonathan Firth, Virgin Galactic’s director of operations and When Scaled Composites test pilot Brian Binnie claimed the An- projects. “That’s about as many as have gone up in the entire 50 sari X Prize on October 4, 2004, Virgin Galactic got one giant step years of manned .” The entire sequence – from liftoff closer to liftoff. Yet, along with redesigning the spaceship to accom- to landing – constitutes the first-ever reusable commercial sys- modate six passengers and two pilots – an tem for whisking astrotourists into space. It all sounds rather undertaking that would double its size sexy and adventurous, and at last count 520 cosmic pathfind- to 60 feet – Rutan’s crew faced a host of GO ers have put down deposits to reserve seats on SpaceShipTwo . issues, among them an intense shaking Virtuoso’s accredited Even so, there have been setbacks. Scheduled flights were orig- during reentry and a need to reduce the space agents are inally planned to begin a few years ago, but as Firth explains, ’s speed to eliminate high tem- the exclusive travel “Getting into space is hard, so it’s taken a bit longer than we peratures on the fuselage. The solution: a advisors for Virgin expected.” This is rocket science, after all. first-of-its-kind tail assembly that rotates Galactic in North upward during reentry to create drag and America. Ticketed Liftoff stability, modeled after badminton shut- passengers receive Virgin Galactic wouldn’t exist without two people: Richard Bran- tlecocks that invariably fall slowly and perks such as invites son, ’s 61-year-old founder and chairman, and Scaled nose-first toward Earth. to Richard Branson’s Composites’ Burt Rutan, whom Branson describes as “the best Comfort touches include larger win- Necker Island and aviation genius in the world.” As a 19-year-old, Branson watched dows and foldaway seats that provide pas- Spaceport America Neil Armstrong walk on the moon and made up his mind “there sengers room to float around, along with and Virgin Group par- and then” to travel to space. He registered the trademark Virgin a posh interior cabin indicative of Virgin’s ties and events, plus Galactic in March of 1999, then set out on a world tour in search of style. On the technical side, Scaled Com- more leading up to partners who could safely build and operate a reusable spaceliner. posites revamped the cockpit with sim- the inaugural flight. “I met with every zany and mad scientist I could find who was plified displays and control systems. “We Virgin Galactic flights interested in rockets and space technology,” Branson has said. wanted it to be easier to fly so we could use from $200,000. The search was a bust until he met Rutan, with whom he even- experienced airline pilots and not just test tually teamed up as a sponsor for Scaled Composites’ Ansari X pilots,” Firth explains. Prize-winning spaceship, later christened SpaceShipOne. In a As for the passengers those pilots will fly, Virgin tapped Virtuoso

joint partnership with Microsoft cofounder , Branson as its exclusive travel partner in the Americas and trained select ) CLAY CENTER OBSERVATORY invested $14 million to license Rutan’s technology and another travel advisors as accredited space agents. When it came time to $95 million to build five passenger spaceliners over 15 years. “Of ensure the experience will be safe and comfortable for the typical SPACESHIPTWO all the businesses we’ve developed,” says Firth of Virgin Group’s luxury traveler, Virgin Galactic’s first 100 ticket holders (including (BURT RUTAN) MARK GREENBERG, (RICHARD BRANSON) THIERRY BOCCON-GIBOD, (

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051712-VirtuosoLife-FullPg-Multi.indd 1 5/18/12 1:39 PM Back to the Future: Virgin Galactic thus Far January 2007: Virtuoso is announced as Virgin Galactic’s exclusive October 2004: travel partner in the Americas. SpaceShipOne claims the for two successful December 2007: flights to space in a week. December 2005: Branson and Virgin Galactic’s March 1999: Spaceport America first 100 ticket holders complete Richard Branson registers November 2004: announced as Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space training at the name Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is born. world headquarters. NASTAR near Philadelphia.

1999 2004 2005 2007

Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch, a Galac- person was 88 years old – and more than 95 year-round sunshine, a noncorrosive cli- tic Founder in the seat lottery for flights 2 percent did great.” mate, sparse population, restricted airspace, through 16) and accredited space agents at- and fuel savings from being 4,600 feet above tended suborbital spaceflight training at the Touchdown sea level, meaning roughly the first mile to National AeroSpace Training and Research While Virgin Galactic’s trajectory steadily space is free. But until the first shovel went Center in Southampton, Pennsylvania. progressed, Spaceport America broke down, there wasn’t any there there. Virgin wanted to make sure they could ground in 2009 with the spaceline as its “We basically had to build a city in the mid- cope with up to 6 gs that passengers will ex- anchor tenant – a 20-year lease bringing dle of nowhere,” says Christine Anderson, perience on SpaceShipTwo, Firth explains. millions in economic development to the executive director of the New Mexico Space- “We spun them on a centrifuge – the oldest state. The location has numerous benefits: port Authority. “To get all the construction

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VIR_JUL_RFP2.indd108_VL_JUL_VIR.indd 108 1 7/11/12 11:5410:02 AM May 2011: March 2010: SpaceShipTwo completes its July 2008: Attached to the mother ship, first feathered flight. Mother ship WhiteKnightTwo SpaceShipTwo takes its first flight. is unveiled at an event for media October 2011: and confirmed Virgin Galactic December 2009: October 2010: Branson receives the keys to customers in the Mojave Desert. SpaceShipTwo unveiled at an SpaceShipTwo detaches from the the Virgin Galactic Gateway to May 2012: The FAA issues event in the Mojave Desert for mother ship on its first glide flight. Space at a Spaceport America SpaceShipTwo’s experimental December 2008: press and confirmed Virgin Spaceport America dedicates its dedication ceremony attended launch permit to progress to WhiteKnightTwo’s first flight. Galactic customers. nearly two-mile-long runway. by some 700 invited guests. rocket-powered test flights.

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

materials there, we had to build a road. with an outdoor patio and a gorgeous view traveler, Branson looks set to achieve his We had to put in our own wells, our own of the San Andres Mountains. It’s very se- wish, and he’s planning on it being a family water treatment, power, and communica- rene. Inside, we’re creating a visitor experi- affair: “Myself, my children, and my mom tions system.” Excavators also turned up ence, designing activities and displays and will go up on that first flight.” 10,000-year-old artifacts, halting construc- fun things for kids and families.” tion until archaeologists could survey the But the real thrills should begin in 2013, find and give the go-ahead. when the initial six Virgin Galactic pas- Today, the project is nearly complete. sengers are expected to climb aboard for “The facility is a showplace,” exults Ander- SpaceShipTwo’s inaugural flight. Some four ➥ Watch a video of a test flight of SpaceShipTwo’s son. “There’s a beautiful veranda on the top, decades after vowing to become a space feathered descent.

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