It’s a project years in development.  However, the world’s first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is finally open for business.  Yesterday, Richard Branson and a host of dignitaries opened the spaceport’s landing strip, a 61 metres wide by 3048 metres long ribbon of asphalt designed to support every aircraft in the world, including Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.  Let the space tourism trade begin!

“From here we will see, perhaps daily flights into space, but also scientists, explorers of new opportunities beyond our planet,”  said Virgin Galactic head honcho Richard Branson.  Among the other plans, aside from commercial space travel, are a hotel in space and using interspace travel to shorten the time needed for intercontinental flight.  Until then, Spaceport America will serve as the home base for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, which is currently selling blocks of two half-hour flights (each with about 5 minutes of weightlessness) for $200,000.

Tags: Spaceport America, Las Cruces, New Mexico, tourist spaceport, Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, SpaceShipTwo, runway at Spaceport America opens, tourist spaceflight center opens for business, photo galleries, Spaceport America runway opens, commercial spaceflight

Usually, when someone talks about hot beats, it’s just because they really like the music.  However, one unnamed woman on a flight from Beijing, China, to Melbourne, Australia, got exposed to some really hot beats.  A woman’s headphone burst into flames while she was wearing them! It’s just not safe to enjoy yourself anymore, between […]

This will be the last Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to ever be on an airplane.  After all, the phone has been pulled from shelves and pockets all around the world, because the phones tend to, uh… catch fire and/or explode.  It’s not a laughing matter if you’re flying over the Rocky Mountains with one in […]

Since 2014, Craig Sager has been caught in the fight of his life.  He’s been battling leukemia since 2014, and he’s had multiple stem-cell treatments and rounds of radiation, and he continues to struggle against the disease for all he’s worth.  He’s been a very public face for most of his life, and now he’s engaged […]

The Red Cross is a wonderful organization.  When there’s trouble, the Red Cross is there setting up shelters and handing out food and water.  The Red Cross is normally very sensitive to the community needs around them, to boot.  However, sometimes, something will slip through the cracks that just looks wrong.  One of these things is […]

One of the most famous features of Matt Groening’s fictional town of Springfield is a strange one.  Springfield is home to a giant, perpetually burning tire fire.  I guess considering the town also has a nuclear plant that routinely leaks glowing green waste into the town’s water supply, the tire fire isn’t such a big […]

Gas prices don’t usually go down.  They go up.  Gas prices rose for decades, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always up on a long enough timeline.  Not long ago, $4 a gallon for gas was a very real proposition.  Nobody thought prices would go in the other direction, and yet… gas prices are going down […]

Fashion designers look for inspiration everywhere.  Some of it is pop culture, like Friday the 13th-inspired hoodies.  Other fashions are inspired by low culture, like deluxe Snuggies.  Some people turn to the culture of their past for inspiration, like the 8-bit video games they grew up on.  Italian fashion house Moschino is partnering with Nintendo […]