In press conference at New Mexico State University on Sept 4th, Virgin Galactic unveiled plans for a $31 million hangar-terminal according to the Las Cruces Bulletin. The facility is designed to blend with the landscape and be as environmentally friendly as possible; using solar panels, water-recycling, and passive heating and cooling systems. It also features a slim and organic profile designed to blend with the terrain, hopefully alleviating local concerns about a Spanish colonial trail’s “viewshed” (Bulletin). Construction is expected to start in 2008, pending a spaceport license.  The Virgin Galactic spaceliner is based on the craft that won the X-Prize and the company hopes to offer sub-orbital flight at $200,000 a ticket as early as 2009.

The biggest obstacle at the moment is local concerns over messing up the landscape. My view on this is that the concerned parties should record as much of the history they wish to preserve and then make way for what is probably the biggest and greatest thing to happen to New Mexico ever, much less the rest of the states. After all, no other state can claim to be the birthplace of commercial space travel. Arguments can be made for the NASA facilities in Texas and Florida I suppose, but really I don’t think anyone really believes that NASA is the future of space exploration. I take it as a fact that private companies are going to be the ones that make space a valid frontier. Concern for history is all well and good, but do not forget the beginnings of history. After all, pretty much anywhere has some sort of history. Are we going to be a nation that consists of nothing but monuments and protected trails? It may sound cold, but at some point I think it necessary that triage occurs.

Anyway. Enough on the soapbox. Here are some pictures from the article in case the link goes down. Credits go to URS Corp. of San Francisco and Foster + Partners of England, the winning design team; and also the Las Cruces Bulletin where I first saw the article. Image hosting by Imageshack.