Kate Winslet has been dating a hipster douche named Ned Rocknroll for about two months. You may think it’s harsh to label him as such, but he just happens to be married (he just filed for divorce, but still the timeline is sketchy) and to have changed his name to “Ned Rocknroll.” Even if he did that on a whim when he was young and stupid, changing your name is not like getting a tattoo. You can change it back. Mr. Rocknroll is the nephew of Virgin billionaire Richard Branson and has some job working for his uncle on that Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight venture that we always seem to be hearing about that never seems to go anywhere.

As part of his job, Rocky and Kate went to the opening ceremony for a spaceport in New Mexico from which the Virgin spaceflights will launch at some point, they’re saying next year but I doubt it. The thing that bugged me was that this spaceport, which cost $209 million, was paid for by our taxes. I guess I shouldn’t care that we don’t have a manned space program anymore, since we’re making ports to enable space flights for the select few that can afford them, or who are high profile enough to get publicity for Virgin by showing up. Like Kate Winslet! Oh I should get the stick out of my ass, the government pays for airports they may as well pay for spaceports. Way of the future and all that. Here’s the story from People:

Looks like she’s part of the family!

Kate Winslet was on the arm of her new boyfriend, Ned Rocknroll, at Monday’s grand opening of his Uncle Richard Branson’s commercial spaceport in New Mexico.

The couple, who have been linked since meeting in August at Branson’s Necker Island home, were photographed at the opening ceremony, during which Branson repelled from a balcony and swigged champagne, the Associated Press reports.

The British billionaire was launching Spaceport America in a remote New Mexico desert. It’s the site from which he plans to stage his commercial space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic, which employs Ned.

Winslet, 35, and Rocknroll, who legally changed his name from Ned Abel Smith, 33, also have been spotted together in London.

[From People]

And here’s more on the spaceport, from the AP:

Before getting to enter the hangar, the crowd was treated to a flyover by WhiteKnightTwo, the mothership that one day will help take space tourists on suborbital flights.

The $209 million taxpayer-financed spaceport will be a launch station for people and payloads on the rocket ships being developed for Virgin Galactic.

With custom metal paneling and massive panes of glass, the state-of-the-art terminal rises from the desert floor to face the nearly 2-mile concrete runway.

The building will house Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft, mission control and a preparation area for travelers.

It was six years ago that Virgin Galactic and New Mexico officials reached an agreement to build the spaceport. Officials said the completion of the terminal and hangar marks another major milestone that brings the dream of rocketing tourists into space closer to reality.

Still, the question many are asking is when the first ships will launch from Spaceport America. It was Branson who once predicted the maiden passenger flight would take off in 2007.

Branson acknowledged the wait in an interview Monday. He and his two children will be among the first to fly, and he said he wants to ensure he can bring them home safely.

“We want to be sure we’ve really tested the craft through and through before turning it over to the astronauts who bought tickets to go up,’’ he said. “If it takes a bit longer, we’ll take a little bit longer.’’

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.

Tickets for rides aboard WhiteKnightTwo cost $200,000. The 2 ½-hour flights will include about five minutes of weightlessness and views of Earth that until now only astronauts have been able to experience.

Like development of the spacecraft, construction of the 110,152-square-foot terminal and hangar facility has been complicated. There were delays, building code problems, contractor disputes and costly change orders.

[From AP via Boston.com]

Well I guess they’ll go into space eventually. I’m predicting 2015 even though the spacecraft is supposedly ready at this point. Kate and Rocky will be broken up by then, but maybe she’ll score tickets to the maiden voyage before that happens. $200k is nothing to scoff at.

And here’s Kate and Rocky at the real airport in San Francisco over the weekend. He carries her bags, I’ll give him that.

Photo credit: WENN and Fame