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George Whitesides, chief executive officer of Virgin Galactic, stops... (Norm Dettlaff/Sun-News)
To hear an audio recording of the interview with George Whitesides, click here.

 

To read a complete transcript of the interview with George Whitesides, click here.

 

 

LAS CRUCES -- Virgin Galactic's first-ever CEO, George Whitesides, was in Las Cruces late last week to meet local and state officials and tour the Spaceport America site for the first time.

Whitesides, 36, has been tasked with moving the company from researching and developing its space vehicle system to running a commercial space tourism business.

Virgin Galactic is the spaceport's major tenant company and plans to eventually launch suborbital spaceflights from the state-financed spaceport, located in southeastern Sierra County.