Virgin Galactic eyes NASA commercial space work, Reuters

"Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of billionaire Richard Branson's London-based Virgin Group VA.L, plans to compete in the upcoming race to develop orbital space vehicles, Branson said on Friday. NASA plans to issue a solicitation as early as Monday for a follow-up to its $50 million Commercial Crew Development program, (for developing commercial crew spaceflight concepts), as part of a broader revamping of the U.S. space program under President Barack Obama. The program is funding work by five companies -- Sierra Nevada Corp, Boeing Co (BA.N), United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and Paragon Space Development -- as part of Obama's bid to bolster support for private space companies."

Spaceport Runway Dedication Includes Sir Richard Branson and NM Governor Richardson

"Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA, said, "With the recent signing of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 by President Obama, it is clear that our nation's future space efforts will be working even more closely than with the growing commercial space transportation industry," She added, "Innovative approaches that foster this new commercial industry will bring more competition and opportunities that will lower the costs of spaceflight and payload services for America's aerospace programs, and introduce new human space transportation systems."