Virgin Galactic officials are, officially, mum about the prospects of bringing the company's space operations to Florida, but owner Richard Branson wasn't so circumspect during a swing through Orlando this week.
"I'm sure in future years, you know, we're going to need an East Coast base. Orlando is certainly a place we would seriously consider," Branson told the Orlando Sentinel.
"I think one day Orlando is a very likely location for one of our spaceports," the British billionaire added.
Virgin Galactic, the spaceflight subsidiary of Branson's Virgin Airlines, is moving forward with suborbital tests out West. This month, Virgin's VSS Enterprise completed its first manned free flight, a 15-minute glide at an altitude of more than 45,000 feet over California's Mojave Desert.
"This is a critical milestone in Virgin Galactic's test program and a great day for the commercial spaceflight industry," said John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation in Washington, D.C. "At the end of the day, getting hardware off the ground is what it's really all about."
In the coming weeks, Virgin expects to begin moving into Spaceport America, a state-owned facility in Truth or Consequences, N.M., where future tests will be launched.
In 2004, Virgin announced plans to fly customers beyond Earth's atmosphere at $200,000 per trip. So far, it's logged 370 deposits totaling $50 million.
Saying Virgin Galactic would "seriously consider" Central Florida for an East Coast spaceport within the next decade, the high-flying Branson told the Sentinel that Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center were "a very likely location."
"You know, we're going to get it established in New Mexico first of all, but once that's firmly and truly established, I think it's very likely we'll come to Orlando," said Branson, who was in town to inaugurate domestic air service to Orlando International by his Virgin America affiliate.
Back at the corporate office in New York City, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides told Sunshine State News:
"Right now we are focused on getting started in New Mexico, where the state is building a new commercial spaceport, but we admire the work that Space Florida and KSC are doing and think they are moving in the right direction."
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Contact KenricWard at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
