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                                      Blue
                                      Origin and Virgin
                                      Galactic have been promising for over
                                      a decade to provide flights to suborbital
                                      space for paying customers. This could finally
                                      be the year one or both companies fulfill
                                      these promises. 
                                    Virgin Galactic has now transferred most
                                      of their operations to Spaceport
                                      America in New Mexico. (There are two
                                      new SS2 vehicles under construction in Mojave.)
                                      That is where they will fly "spaceflight
                                      participants" to greater than 80 kilometers
                                      in altitude aboard SpaceShipTwo rocketplanes. 
                                    .. 
                                    The company carried out the first
                                      drop glide test of a SpaceShipTwo from
                                      the New Mexico facility on May 1, 2025.
                                      No word yet on when the first suborbital
                                      spaceflight from Spaceport America will
                                      happen. A SpaceshipTwo vehicle has not flown
                                      to space since the flight of VSS Unity on
                                      Feb.22.2025: 
                                    .. 
                                    They will soon begin test flights in New
                                      Mexico, low atltitude at first and then
                                      to space. 
                                    Blue Origin flew New Shepard to over 100
                                      kilometers on Dec.11.2025: 
                                    .. 
                                    The company says it needs to carry out
                                      a few more test flights before a New Shepard
                                      will carry people on board. Initially these
                                      will be company employees.  
                                    === 
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