The first spaceport

VIRGIN Galactic’s center for its operations, Spaceport America crouches in the New Mexico desert.

Where else do you go after you’ve seen the world? Why, to outer space of course!

I had been reading up on Sir Richard Branson, the extreme adventurer and entrepreneur.  I remember him as the first man to fly a balloon across the Atlantic, then later, as the owner of Virgin records, and not much later, as the founder of the then-quirky Virgin Atlantic airline.  He has that rock star vibe, amplified by the long wavy hair, the maverick ideas and that cool-dude attitude. He is a man with unconventional notions:  within a span of less than five years, he plans to take people way up into space, and inversely, take them down to explore the depths of the ocean as well. Quite extreme, but at one point in time, he did set a new world record for crossing the Atlantic, and at another point in time, he did fly that balloon. And at 61, he’s still running marathons. And he is “knighted.” That’s “Sir” Richard Branson for you.

Twenty years ago, the thought of traveling to space as a “tourist” seemed remote if not incredible. After all, it was only in 1967 that man first stepped foot on the moon, and only in 1981 that the first shuttle missions started. Throughout all these, the focus was on scientific missions, the aircraft and the men that rode them. Very little attention was given to the space centers the spacecraft took off from because there was really no need. They were largely utilitarian, catering to astronauts, scientists, technicians and engineers, and with no real hospitality edge, nor need for esthetic value. No interest in the consumer market. My memory of the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral is all of a “rocket” rising and the enormous clouds of smoke beneath it.

World’s first

As space travel becomes more efficient and open to the consumer market, spaceports and spacecraft are being designed to be more than just launch pads and their hangars. In 1997 Foster and Partners, better known as the architect of the new Beijing airport and  Hong Kong’s Check Lap Kok, won the design competition for the world’s first private space travel terminal: “Spaceport America.” This commercial spaceport is located in the desert of New Mexico and will house the operations for Branson’s next maverick venture:  Virgin Galactic.

THE BULLET-SHAPED and very compact passenger capsule

The first thing that struck me about this spaceport was its size: compact, crouching and nowhere near my expectations of a “Star Wars” or “Battlestar Galactica”-like “super spaceship terminal.” Not very big in footprint and looking quite like a manta ray lounging at the bottom of the ocean. Entry to this “space hangar” is through a long channel cut into the ground, leading one through a linear exhibit of the space company’s history, into the terminal itself. I realized that the scale of the structure is quite compact, much smaller than I expected, because the spacecraft themselves are small.

Capsule with passenger seats

All of 25 meters wide, the main aircraft looks like two airplanes sharing one wing, this junction grasping a capsule with passenger seats, fastened to the center of the aircraft and meant to be detached and thrust into space. The capsule itself lives up to its name:  the cabin is only all of  four meters long, slightly more than two meters wide and sits a tight six persons. What I found fascinating was that it has windows at the sides (like nearly any other vehicle) but also had one at the capsule’s ceiling above the head and one down at leg level. Any which way, the view will be great!

To date, there are at least 300 people who have signed up and paid deposits for this US$200,000 (yes that’s roughly P8 million), two-and-a-half hour hurdle into space, and five-minute date with zero gravity. Oh and you also get bragging rights to being one of the world’s first space tourists.

I’m eager to see what Virgin Oceanic’s “terminal,” if any, would look like, but I don’t need to know what it will cost me to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench. My dream is as big as Branson’s, but he is the luckier one. I can’t imagine saving enough for a trip like that in this lifetime. Probably not even in two. Thank goodness, there still are many places in the world I have to visit. For now, I’ll stick to the airports.

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