Houston has always been the country's space capital heretofore. But now that the space shuttle program has ended and the future of NASA's objectives are uncertain, Houston stands to lose it's pre-immenence in Space development.
Virgin Airlines owner Sir Richard Branson will begin commercial space travel in the next couple of years (assuming no setbacks) via his Virgin Galactic company.
A spaceport has already been constructed: Spaceport America. It is located in the White Sands Missile Range, near the cities Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences, located in Sierra County, New Mexico. Spaceport America has been constructed.
Houston's bid to build the largest spaceport would help retain it's importance in the future of space exploration. Should the city's proposal for the port be accepted it would be operational in 2024. The project has been dubbed "Space City USA". If built it would be the world's hub for commercial space
travel which is a consumer market that seems to be quite appealing for the 1%-ers of the world (the only percentage of the world's economic demographics that seems to be growing at a disproportionate rate). Virgin Galactic will begin offering commercial flight for $250,000. The flight will be about 2.5 hours, but weightlessness will be for only 6 minutes. See the video below of the space flight:
Personally, I wish I could win a position on the one-way ticket to Mars competition. I think any other planet would be a better alternative to this fucked up world we live in! (IMHO)
Here's more photos illustrating Houston's proposed Space City USA.
See more information at the following locations:
Virgin Galactic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic
http://www.virgingalactic.com
Spaceport America (new Mexico)
http://spaceportamerica.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceport_America
Space City USA (Houston)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2412201/Houston-unveils-plans-America-s-largest-space-port-bid-retain-title-Space-City-USA.html
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