By Dan McCarthy
Mail

A recent landing at Mesa Gateway Airport marked a major step in Virgin Galactic’s plans for spaceship transport flights.

“This was the first time bringing our launch vehicle to our SpaceShip Factory in Mesa,” Aleanna Crane, vice president of communications for Virgin Galactic, said.

Virgin Galactic, an aerospace and space travel company, signed a long-term lease in 2022 for a new final assembly manufacturing facility in Mesa for its next-generation Delta class spaceships.

The facility is capable of producing up to six spaceships per year and will bring hundreds "of highly skilled aerospace engineering and manufacturing jobs to the area,” according to Virgin Atlantic.

Crane said last week that VMS Eve is the method Virgin Galactic will use to transport new spaceships to launch facilities at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“So, with our first ship expected to be finished next year, it was time to begin familiarizing our pilots and operations teams with Mesa Gateway Airport and operating from our facility here,” Crane said.

The company has been receiving major parts and  subassemblies from suppliers that are being integrated into the build of its spaceship at the new Mesa facility, she said.

“Our spaceship final assembly factory is key to accelerating the production of our Delta fleet, enabling a rapid increase in flight capacity that will drive our revenue growth,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a 2022 release.

“We’re thrilled to expand into the greater Phoenix area, which is home to outstanding aerospace talent – and we look forward to growing our team and fleet at our new facility.”

An important step occurred Nov. 17 when Virgin Galactic launch vehicle Eve landed at Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa.

Virgin Galactic motherships will ferry completed spaceships to Spaceport America for flight tests and commercial operation.

Spaceships will not land in Mesa, though.

“Not in the way you’re probably thinking. While you will see Eve more often between now and when our new SpaceShip is complete, our spaceships themselves won’t be landing here in Mesa,” Crane said.

“Part of the beauty of our spaceflight system is that after re-entering the atmosphere, we return our astronauts to the same runway from where they took off. And that’s at Spaceport America.”

What people in the Valley will be able to see, she said, is “the spaceship taking off  from Mesa Gateway, carried under the giant wing of our beautiful launch vehicle, Eve, on its way to New Mexico.

“And that is exactly what it looks like at the beginning of every spaceflight we make from Spaceport.”

Crane said the company will coordinate with the airport when making flights to Mesa.

“It really is a sight, watching a rocket-powered spaceship, held securely between the twin fuselages of Eve, lift off for the first time. And then, not too long after that, she’ll return to pick up our second spaceship.”

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Dan McCarthy
Web content

dmccarthy@iniusa.org

Meet Dan
Dan McCarthy joined Independent Newsmedia as web content editor after a 40-plus year career as a reporter and editor in New Jersey and Arizona. During his time in Arizona, he has been an editor of daily and weekly papers in Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler, Ahwatukee, Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise, Peoria and Glendale. Prior to moving to Arizona in 1984, when he was hired to be assistant city editor at the Tempe Daily News, he covered regional police/fire news, municipal, county and state governments in New Jersey, the latter as bureau chief at the state Capitol.

Community: He has served on several boards over the years, including the Tempe Community Action Agency and the Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital Board of Governors. He is a graduate of the Tempe Leadership and Scottsdale Leadership programs, serving as media adviser for subsequent classes of Tempe Leadership.

Education: Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. 

Random Fact: Set winter/summer track records in the 60-, 100- and 220-yard dashes at his high school in New Jersey. 

Hobbies: Tai chi, cooking, dining at his must-eat-once places around the U.S. and the Cincinnati Reds, his favorite team since 1961.