SpaceX plans seaborne spaceports for Mars missions and hypersonic flights

Don’t think SpaceX is toning down its spaceflight ambitions in light of the pandemic — if anything, the company is ramping things up. Elon Musk has confirmed a SpaceXFleet scoop (via TechCrunch) that SpaceX is hiring staff to help build “floating, su...

Virgin Galactic plans to open a commercial spaceport in Italy

Virgin Galactic announced today that it has partnered with two Italian aerospace companies with the aim to bring commercial space flight to Italy in the future, The Verge reports. Alongside Altec, which is owned in part by the Italian Space Agency, a...

The UK’s spaceport ambitions inch closer to reality

The UK government's goal to play host to the first spaceport in Europe is taking a baby step closer to fruition today. After being introduced just over a year ago as the Draft Spaceflight Bill, the rebranded Space Industry Bill is receiving royal ass...

SpaceX inks lease with Spaceport America, will push reusable rocket higher

SpaceX inks lease with Spaceport America, will push Grasshopper rocket even higher

Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic crew will soon have a new neighbor at Spaceport America, as SpaceX has just signed a three-year lease to the facility. Central to the agreement, SpaceX will move its Grasshopper reusable rocket test program from McGregor, Texas to the southern New Mexico desert, where it aims to push Grasshopper higher than before. According to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, the move was due to New Mexico's favorable regulatory situation, along with the physical landscape of the Spaceport America site. As fun as that sounds, though, we'd like to imagine that the opportunity to rub shoulders with other celebs in the commercial space industry clinched the decision.

[Photo credit: Spaceport America / Flickr]

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