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Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight operations moving to New Mexico

Posted at 8:36 PM, May 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-10 22:36:43-04
Virgin Galactic announcement
Virgin Galactic announcement

SANTA FE – Executives from Virgin Galactic joined New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham Friday to announce the space company plans to relocate more than 100 employees, its entire commercial spaceflight operations base, to New Mexico’s Spaceport America.

The move comes as the company begins to ramp up operations for commercial space flights.

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson announced Galactic’s development and testing program advanced enough to move the spaceline staff and space vehicles to their commercial operations headquarters at Spaceport America. That move will start immediately and continue through the summer.

Gov. Lujan Grisham said the announcement reaffirms the state’s decision to invest in Spaceport America. She said the aerospace industry is growing faster than the rest of the economy and the governor has identified it as a target industry for economic development.