Future Wretched Hive of Scum & Villainy?

Space City, NM

from Sploid

The new Space Age of private travel to the stars is one step closer to reality.

Virgin Galactic, the spaceship company launched by British business legend Sir Richard Branson, announced in London today that New Mexico will be home to a fantastic spaceport city.

Branson has signed a 20-year deal with the state of New Mexico to build Virgin's $225-million facility in the high desert near the U.S. military's White Sands Missile Range.

Almost all of the futuristic spaceport will be built underground. Thousands of jobs will be created, first as the huge complex is built, and then to send regular private flights into space and care for the rich folks coming in for the vacation of a lifetime.

The company revealed today that 38,000 people from all over the world have paid deposits for seats on the spacecraft.

Flights are scheduled to begin in just three years. Another 100 "founders" have paid up front the entire $200,000 fee for a ticket to space.

Branson made the announcement from the Science Museum in London. The museum's Alien Worlds exhibition served as backdrop.

More details will be announced tomorrow from the spaceport site in New Mexico.