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Comment by edkennedy | Hacker News Reader

Space exploration has always been a phallic endeavor. Now I see that Virgin has taken a very very...yonic style to it's spaceport architecture.

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I think that the 'phallic' aspect of rocketry has more to do with physics than anyone's actual obsession with penises. Personally, I think when you read phalli into it, I think that says more about you than rocketry.

I think that the same can be said about this hanger... I didn't see what you saw until you mentioned it... Now I can't stop seeing it through. Thank you very much.

All rockets have to look like phallic because of physics. But you could argue that their phallic nature helps shape our attitudes about them.

You can, but anyone with an ounce of engineer or scientist in them ought to just say "Occam's Razor" and consider the case closed. Are rockets shaped the way they are because of physics, or are they shaped the way they are because of physics and because men are obsessed with big penises? Occam's Razor.

Not so fast. One could also contend that phalluses are shaped that way because of evolutionary biology responding to underlying physics and geometry. Einstein's formulation of Occam's Razor was, "simple as possible, but no simpler." You haven't established your either-or choice as the only possibilities. (In other words, there is an underlying causation to both!)

It doesn't look quite so bad in the second picture where it blends into the background.

Architecturally I think this style is called "How to spend as much money as possible on something that is still just a big shed in the desert".

Seriously though, was there any real need to build a "spaceport"? Wouldn't White Knight/Spaceship 2.0 equally capable of operating out of any decent-sized airport, if you make sure you arrange priority landing for the spaceship? (Does Spaceship Two land on a runway?)

Ups the cachet considerably, no? If you're paying that kind of money for a flight, isn't it more fitting to fly out of a Spaceport then Albuquerque International Airport?

Plus, given time, we may see a vicious hive of scum and villainy grow in the surrounding area.

Indeed, I was just wondering whether there was any practical reason for it. But since "sounds cool" is a more-than-sufficient justification for any Virgin activity at this stage, and since "building a spaceport" was really just "buying an old airport in the middle of the desert and putting up a new sign" I guess I'm not too surprised.

Plus, given time, we may see a vicious hive of scum and villainy grow in the surrounding area.

Albuquerque?

It's much closer to Roswell...

He meant Mos Eisley.

If you have to explain it...

I got the Star Wars reference.

I used to live in Albuquerue and I was implying that Roswell was more like Mos Eisley than Albuquerque. Though that's just a personal opinion.

Makes sense. Albuquerque's west side is full of a bunch of whiney Luke types "I wish we were cool like the main city" :)

Don't you mean a wretched hive of scum and villainy?

This way they don't need to work around the schedule of a busy major airport, which I'm guessing would probably be unwilling to accommodate them. Pleasure flights and pilot lessons are usually out of small regional airports for similar reasons.

One of the very important reasons why it got built in New Mexico is that the White Sands test range has restricted airspace to infinity, which is unique out side of like the pentagon. As a result the air/space space right next to it is nicely uncluttered so they don't have to worry about space debris nearly as much.

That makes a lot of sense. But "infinity"? I'd like to see them enforce that beyond a few light-minutes...

I'm sure they're sending cease and desist notices to a number of galaxies all of the time. They're just waiting for the response before escalating.

At least White Sands is outside the tropics, so we don't need to worry about the sun. Not so sure about the moon.

The passengers don't exactly just turn up, check their bags, and fly. They need to go through a complex medical check-up to ensure that they are fit for spaceflight. If I recall, the tickets include a two-week stay at the spaceport (to ensure everyone is healthy and ready for the process), and given the cost of tickets, it probably needs to be a nice place to stay.

You've taught me a new adjective. Thank you.

Of course they did it's New Mexico, home of Vagina O'Keeffe.

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