Making private space travel possible and accessible to everyone has been a recurring topic at recent TED conferences, discussed by speakers such as Burt Rutan at TED 2006 (watch his speech), Peter Diamandis at TEDGLOBAL 2005, Richard Branson at TED 2007 and others. This week the first images of the central terminal and hangar facility at New Mexico’s future private spaceport have been released:

Designed by engineering firm URS Corp and by architect Norman Foster, the structure, called Spaceport America, will serve as the operating basis for Branson’s Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliners, which are being built at Scaled Composites in California, founded by Rutan. Construction of the spaceport should begin in 2008.

Details in this story by Space.com.