Lifestyles Briefs july 25, 2010

Virgin Galactic makes first crewed flight

MOJAVE, Calif. - A company working to send tourists on suborbital flights tested its spacecraft with a crew for the first time.

Virgin Galactic says the craft remained attached to a specially designed airplane throughout a six-hour flight over California's Mojave desert Thursday.

On its website, the company congratulated the crew and said "Objectives achieved." It says the two crew members evaluated all of the spaceship's systems and functions.

Virgin Galactic says the flight test program will run through 2011 before it starts commercial operations.

Biscuit Basin boardwalk reopens

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -

One of Yellowstone National Park's famous geyser basins is open to visitors again.

The Biscuit Basin area opened to visitors for the first time this season on Friday. The basin is three miles north of Old Faithful.

The area had been closed the past 14 weeks while workers replaced the boardwalk.

National Park Service employees and members of the Youth Conservation Corps replaced or built more than 2,400 feet of trail.

Federal money paid for the $121,000 project.

Yosemite offers more sites for campers

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - Yosemite National Park is offering more sites for campers, including a campground that's been closed for 13 years.

Park officials said Yosemite Creek Campground is open for the first time since 1997.

The campground was closed after a bridge was destroyed in a flood. Crews have finished rebuilding the bridge, making the campground once again accessible.

Several campgrounds along the Tioga Road and the Bridalveil Creek Campground on the Glacier Point Road, which were closed during the winter of 2009, are also open again.

Even with the additional sites, officials say all campsites on the reservation system are booked through the summer.

People who want to camp at the first-come, first-served campgrounds are urged to arrive early in the day.

- The Associated Press