Almost 15 years ago, Spaceport America welcomed Virgin Galactic as its anchor tenant with the dream of one day partnering to usher in commercial space travel to the whole of humanity.

Thursday morning, that dream became a reality.

Spaceport America is ecstatic to extend its congratulations to Virgin Galactic following the unprecedented success of Thursday morning's Galactic 01 flight.

Able to successfully accomplish its primary goal, Virgin Galactic's Galactic 01 flight served as its first commercial spaceflight. Now etched into spaceflight lore, Galactic 01 will be remembered as the first step into the burgeoning areas of commercial spaceflight and government-funded commercial human-tended research mission. For Spaceport America, Thursday's historic achievement further cements the world's first commercial spaceport as a leading hub for innovation in the space industry.

"Virgin Galactic has shown what perseverance really means in getting to this stage of their business. In the history of space, this flight marks a very significant event," said Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. "In a very direct sense, the citizens of New Mexico have been investors in Virgin Galactic since the beginning, also showing perseverance and a belief in Virgin Galactic's vision, and we look forward to the partnership for years to come," he added.

Aboard the VSS Unity, a three-person crew consisting of individuals from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy successfully made the journey to the cosmos in order to conduct a number of suborbital science experiments. Each of the objectives prioritized by the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council's Virtue 1 research mission can be explored in more detail by visiting this link:  https://www.virgingalactic.com/news/virgin-galactic-completes-inaugural-commercial-spaceflight

Almost 800 individuals from around the globe have entered their names onto Virgin Galactic's list of hopeful commercial space visitors. With the incredible success of Thursday's spaceflight, that group of space hopefuls has the potential to more than double the number of human beings who have successfully traveled among the stars since 1961.

Spaceport America remains committed to its mission of driving the frontiers of space exploration, enabling breakthroughs in aerospace technology, and bolstering economic development for the region.

Spaceport America is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. The FAA-licensed launch complex, situated on 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, has a rocket-friendly environment of 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-foot by 200-foot runway, vertical launch complexes, and about 340 days of sunshine and low humidity.

Some of the most respected companies in the commercial space industry are tenants at Spaceport America: Virgin Galactic, HAPSMobile/ AeroVironment, UP Aerospace, and SpinLaunch.

Media Contact for Spaceport America
Charlie Hurley, Public Information Officer
(575) 997-6879 media@spaceportamerica.com