Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on 18,000 acres (7,300 ha) of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin of the United States, 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces, New Mexico and 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Truth or Consequences. With Virgin Galactic's launch of the VSS Unity, with three people aboard, on May 22, 2021, New Mexico became the third US state to launch humans into space after California and Florida. Spaceport America bills itself as "the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport", designed and constructed specifically for commercial users. The site is built to accommodate both vertical and horizontal launch aerospace vehicles, as well as an array of non-aerospace events and commercial activities. Spaceport America is owned and operated by the State of New Mexico, via a state agency, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The first rocket launch at Spaceport America occurred on September 25, 2006. The current tenants working in the U.S. spaceport are HAPSMobile Aerovironment, UP Aerospace, SpinLaunch, and Virgin Galactic. Spaceport America was officially declared open on October 18, 2011, the visitor center in Truth or Consequences became fully accessible to the general public on June 24, 2015, and after Virgin Galactic completed the interior buildout, the entire facility was deemed ready for operations in August 2019. Visitors can book private tours of the facility via the website or from the Visit Las Cruces organization or the visitors center in Truth or Consequences.
History Spaceport America began as a potential landing site for reentry capsules and then evolved into a test and operations site for the canceled Lockheed Martin VentureStar project. The first rocket launch at Spaceport America occurred on September 25, 2006.
Inception
The spaceport's initial concept was proposed by Stanford University engineering lecturer and tech startup advisor Dr. Burton Lee in 1990. He wrote the initial business and strategic plans, secured US$1.4 million in seed funding via congressional earmarks with the help of Senator Pete Domenici, and worked with the New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) to develop local support for the spaceport concept. In 1992, the Southwest Space Task Force was formed to advance New Mexico's space industry's commercial infrastructure and activity. After several years of study, they focused on a 27-square-mile (70 km2) plot of state-owned land, 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces, as a location for the spaceport. In 2003, the task force petitioned then-new Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Rick Homans who then picked up the torch. Homans presented the idea to then-Governor Bill Richardson and negotiated with the X Prize Foundation to locate the X Prize Cup in New Mexico. Following an announcement by Governor Richardson and Sir Richard Branson that the new Virgin Galactic would make New Mexico its world headquarters, the state legislature enacted laws providing for the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport in 2006 (compare SpacePort Canada). The spaceport was subsequently named Spaceport America.
Construction
Construction of the first temporary launch facility at the spaceport site in Sierra County began on April 4, 2006. In early 2007, red tape was still in the process of being cleared and the spaceport itself was still little more than "a 100-foot (30 m) by 25-foot (7.6 m) concrete slab." That slab would eventually be part of the launch facility for the spaceport's first tenant UP Aerospace. On April 3, voters in neighboring Doña Ana County approved a spaceport tax that would go into effect upon final approval from Sierra County. The first images of the then planned spaceport's Hangar Terminal Facility (HTF) were released in early September 2007. In April 2008, voters in Sierra County approved the plan, releasing over US$40 million in funding for the spaceport. Voters in of Otero County, however, rejected the spaceport tax during general elections in November. In spite of the rejection, Spaceport America had what it needed to move forward and progress toward its completion began. In December 2008, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority received its launch license for vertical and horizontal launch from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Shortly thereafter, Virgin Galactic signed a 20-year (240-month) lease as the anchor tenant, agreeing to pay US$1 million per year for the first five years in addition to payments on a tiered scale based on the number of launches the company makes. In December, Gerald Martin Construction Management, from Albuquerque, was chosen to oversee construction. The goal was to have construction complete by December 2010. The ground-breaking ceremony took place on June 19, 2009, and paid tours of the facilities began in December of the same year. By February 2010, the in mid-construction budgetary estimate for completion was $198 million. On October 22, a ceremonial flypass of Spaceport America was made by SpaceShipTwo to celebrate the completion of the runway. By October 2010, with the runway complete and the terminal building under active construction, the budgetary estimate for completion increased to $212 million. Approximately two-thirds of that were provided by the state and the remainder from "construction bonds backed by a tax approved by voters in Doña Ana and Sierra counties." The spaceport was officially declared open on October 18, 2011, but the tenant did not move in and begin operations right away. By August 2011, Spaceport America was substantially complete and the cost of the entire project was $209 million. The interior of the building was the responsibility of tenant Virgin Galactic, and work on the interior began only in 2018. By August 2019, interior work was complete, and the entire facility was deemed ready for operations.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
