Virgin Galactic plans to launch customers to space from a future Italian spaceport
Today, US space tourism venture Virgin Galactic announced a new partnership with two of Italy’s biggest aerospace companies to someday launch people into space from the European country. The plan is to eventually conduct flights of Virgin Galactic’s passenger spaceplane from Italy’s future Grottaglie Spaceport, which will be located at an airport on the heel of the country’s famous boot. If this all pans out, Virgin Galactic could be the first group to launch someone into space from Italy — or any other European territory.
Virgin Galactic’s new partners include Altec, a company owned by the Italian Space Agency, and Sitael, Italy’s largest private space company. The two partners are supposed to work with Virgin Galactic to come up with a...