Virgin Galactic Crash Delays Spaceport America Launches
State budget hearing revealed that the facility faces a $1.5 million budget deficit in FY2015 unless commercial spaceflights begin by July next year.

The fatal crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle on Friday near Mojave, Calif., cast uncertainty upon the future of the nascent space tourism venture and that of Spaceport America, the $212 million facility near Truth or Consequences, N.M., slated to be home to Virgin’s commercial service. Spaceport America personnel have declined to speculate on how the flight-test mishap will affect Virgin’s planned operations there, though a state budget hearing held last week before the accident revealed that the facility faces a $1.5 million budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2015 unless commercial flights begin by July.