World's First Built-From-Scratch Commercial Spaceport

British billionaire Richard Branson rappelled from a balcony, shook up a big bottle of champagne and took a swig while christening the world's first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport. Virgin Galactic will stage its commercial space tourism venture from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, the Associated Press reports.The $209 million, taxpayer-financed spaceport will be a launch station for people and payloads on the rocket ships being developed for Virgin Galactic. Commercial service will start up after the company gets a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. NASA has already signed a $4.5 million contract with the company for up to three chartered research flights.