Posted: Wed, Mar 21 5:55 AM ET (0955 GMT)
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic announced this week it has signed up a famous actor as its 500th customer for its suborbital spaceflights. Virgin said Monday that Ashton Kutcher is the customer number 500 for its upcoming SpaceShipTwo flights to space. Kutcher is a movie and television actor currently on the CBS series "Two and a Half Men". Virgin Galactic has not set a timetable for those flights, although the company says it anticipates beginning powered flight tests of SpaceShipTwo later this year.

Related Links:

•  MSNBC article
•  AP article
•  SPACE.com article
•  Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News article
•  Virgin announcement

Posted: Tue, Oct 18 8:07 AM ET (1207 GMT)
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic formally dedicated the terminal building that will host its suborbital spaceflights in New Mexico in a ceremony on Monday. The building, formally named the "Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space", will serve as a hangar for Virgin's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft and WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft as well as its operations center at Spaceport America. The building is the centerpiece of the $209-million spaceport built by the state north of Las Cruces. Monday's ceremony, attended by 150 of Virgin Galactic's 455 customers as well as other dignitaries, featured a captive carry flight of WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. Virgin has not set a schedule for when flight operations from the spaceport will begin, but expect to begin powered test flights of SpaceShipTwo from Mojave, California, early next year.

Related Links:

•  MSNBC article
•  BBC article
•  SPACE.com article
•  Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News article
•  Virgin Galactic press release

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