World’s first tourist spaceport is up and ready

The world’s first commercial spaceport is now operational; recently, Virgin Galactic announced the same, citing that the company owned by Sir Richard Branson has transferred all its spaceflight operations to Spaceport America in New Mexico.

During an interview in May, Branson said that they are not just talking about sending people to space, but also talking about bringing about family and friends. He also mentioned that there will be flight training inside the spaceport, hot air ballooning, mountain bike riding, as well as places to eat!
Reportedly, Virgin Galactic had been carrying out test flights from Mojave in California, and also carried out the first successful launch of its tourism rocket plane into space in December last year. Reports also suggest that more than 600 people have already paid a deposit of around 80 million dollars to the company to ensure their ticket on the first space flights.
Recently, the company revealed the interior of its Gateway to Space building at the spaceport. It had two floors that are focussed on spaceflight operations and communal spaces that have been specifically designed to handle future customers.Other new facilities are a mission control center, a working area for pilots, and a briefing center.
The company stated that the area has been specifically designed for astronauts, where they can share their experience with rocket engineers, pilots, and other operatives in mission control centre.

Last month, Virgin Galactic merged with the New York Social Capital Hedosophia to become the first and only publicly traded commercial human spaceflight company. While talking about the unveiling of the new spaceport, the company further added that the spaceport has been specifically designed to enable Virgin Galactic to create unparalleled experiences as its customers prepare for journeys of a lifetime before graduating as astronauts.