June 19, 2009 - this is the date that will be remembered in years to come as the day the world's very first purpose-built commercial spaceport broke ground in southern New Mexico.
New mexico Governer, Bill Richardson was there to celebrate the historic day and commented that he was happy to see Spaceport America finally becoming a reality after all the planning that has gone into the poject.
President of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn, who also attended the ceremony, marked the event as an enormous milestone for Virgin Galactic. The company is investing $300 million for the development of a new space launch system which will be operational at Spaceport America once the facility opens.
Virgin Galactic was launched in 2004 with the aim of transforming the commercial space industry in terms of cost, safety and the environmental impact of space travel. The company has been actively involved in developing new technolgies in conjunction with Burt Rutan and Northrop Grumman's Scaled Composites. Scaled Composites has developed WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo for the purpose of commercial spaceflight.
Spaceport America will be a 110,000-plus square foot-facility using energy-efficient green building techniques. The facility will be built to the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system.
The facility will use sustainable and clean energy technology throughout the entire design, causing Spaceport America to not only be first in Commercial Spaceflight, but also to stand as an example for environmentally friendly structures of the future. Earth-tubes will pre-condition the air which will in turn save HVAC costs by approximately 50-70%, and the facility will also use solar thermal panels on the roof for hot water, among other unique designs.
The design of the facility was done by a team combined of British and American architects. Two design firms (URS Corporation and Foster + Partners), teamed up to submit the eventual winning design in an international design competition.
It is expected that Spaceport America will employ 3,500 people by 2020.
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