It becomes less and less a future fever dream every day: Spaceport America in Las Cruces, NM, Virgin Galactic’s future home, has gotten FAA approval to begin construction.
The design has been set since September 2007, but now that an environmental impact assessment has been passed, construction can now begin. Branson is banking on the rich still paying for a suborbital flight in our current economic clime, and yeah, I probably believe him.
Virgin Galactic and its SpaceShipTwo/White Knight launch system will be the main attraction, but the spaceport’s licence for vertical and horizontal takeoffs can be used by any number of clients willing to lease some launchpad time. [Ars Technica]