But despite having signed up more than 600 would-be space tourists across 60 countries, including several Hollywood celebrities, the project has been hit by delays. An accident in 2014 that killed a co-pilot dealt Virgin Galactic - and the wider cause of space tourism - a major blow. The company has since developed a viable spacecraft that has twice touched the edge of space, and chief executive George Whitesides told AFP on Thursday he expects the first paying passengers to fly "next year."
"Today was a huge day to announce the operational readiness of the spaceport," he said. "To see the pieces starting to come together now, all the final pieces, the vehicle, the staff, and the facility ... and the customers is tremendously gratifying. "We're just really happy that that we've gotten to this point. We've got more to go, but we're on the homestretch now."