24 May 2021
Virgin Galactic makes first flight to space from New Mexico
... mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space, at an altitude of 88 kilometres (55 miles) before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America. On VSS Unity’s flight deck were CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay, while Kelly Latimer and Michael Masucci...
September 2021
Near space - the air-space boundary question, astronauts and space tourism
...’ on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital tourism vehicle, VSS Unity. The Unity 22 mission, launched from New Mexico’s Spaceport America and piloted by Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, provided Branson and three Virgin Galactic employees with...
April 2019
Building the UK’s first spaceport
... by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the Pacific Spaceport Complex and Spaceport America. The UK’s Sutherland vertical launch site, and its potential future Newquay horizontal launch site are...
November 2021
Space launch emergency response
... the regulatory framework and legislation for the basics of fire safety and emergency response, which applies to spaceports as much as to airports and similar facilities. The effective provision and management of on-site emergency response plans and...
July 2018
Rediscovering UK sovereign launch capability
... satellites are replaced with fleets of easily replaced smallsats. A private plane on the ‘Gateway to Space’ apron at Spaceport America. This changing landscape posed severe challenges for the antecedent regulatory regime under the Outer Space ...
May 2019
A matter of perspective
... Foster, will be the hub for Virgin Galactic and other private space companies. Using local materials, Spaceport America is both sustainable and sensitive to its surroundings. The building’s sinuous shape seeks to embody the drama and...
