Posted: Mon, Jun 22 6:30 AM ET (1030 GMT)
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for Spaceport America, a new commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The facility, located in the New Mexico desert north of Las Cruces, is being developed primarily for suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic, although a number of other companies have plans to use the site as well. Construction will begin soon on the spaceport's facilities, including a runway and terminal, and is slated to be completed in 18 to 24 months. The groundbreaking ceremony was slated to feature a flyover by WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft, but a minor problem caused the aircraft to diverted to Phoenix. The problem, a warning light for a speedbrake actuator, was corrected, and the aircraft flew over Las Cruces on Saturday morning.

Related Links:

•  Las Cruces (NM) Sun-News article
•  AP article
•  BBC article
•  CNN article
•  KFOX-TV El Paso article

Posted: Thu, Jun 4 9:45 PM ET (0145 GMT)
The founder of the performance company Cirque du Soleil confirmed Thursday that he will fly to the International Space Station later this year in a bid to raise awareness about the availability of clean water. Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Guy Laliberté said he will fly on the next Soyuz taxi flight to the ISS, Soyuz TMA-16, launching on September 30 with Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams. Laliberté said the flight would coincide with his 50th birthday and the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil. The "Poetic Space Mission" will feature poetry and other efforts to raise awareness for water-related issues on behalf of his One Drop Foundation. A native of Montreal, Laliberté is getting assistance for his flight from the Canadian Space Agency. Laliberté will be the seventh space tourist, and the first from Canada, to fly to the ISS, dating back to 2001.

Related Links:

•  CBC article
•  Canadian Press article
•  Reuters article
•  SPACE.com article
•  Space Adventures press release

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