Officials say that’s a sign that excitement is building as project moves closer to reality
More than 350 people have signed up to attend Saturday’s educational launch from Spaceport America. Officials say that’s evidence that, as the project progresses from a proposal to reality, excitement is building.
“It’s a feeling that the public is getting behind this. Everybody senses that it’s actually real,” spaceport Executive Director Steve Landeene said in an interview.
A lot has happened in the last few months to move the publicly owned and funded spaceport from the drawing board closer to reality. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority secured a license from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate a commercial spaceport. It also inked a lease with anchor tenant Virgin Galactic. And the agency hired Gerald Martin Construction Management of Albuquerque to oversee the building of the spaceport.
Gerald Martin has been holding informational meetings to attract companies and workers to the construction project. The bidding process for various aspects of construction will soon begin. And, Ladeene said, officials have set June 19 as the target date for the groundbreaking ceremony for the primary facilities at the spaceport — a runway and terminals and other facilities for the spaceport authority and Virgin. He plans to have those facilities operational in 2010.
But the next step is Saturday’s launch from a temporary facility at the spaceport of an UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket carrying educational and other payloads into suborbital space. Payloads developed and built by students from 10 high schools, technical schools and universities will be on board, according to the mission profile. Also on board will the cremated remains of 15 people and a payload being carried for the U.S. Air Force.
It’s designed to be the first in a series of educational launches that will take place at least annually. The goal is to help develop a workforce equipped to participate in the commercial space industry officials expect to develop around Las Cruces.
For more details and to sign up to attend the Saturday-morning launch, click here.
‘Space is becoming a reality again’
This will be the third launch of an UP Aerospace rocket from the spaceport. The first, in 2006, failed to reach suborbital space, but the second was a success. Landeene acknowledged that rocketry is challenging but said he’s hopeful that this weekend’s launch will also be successful.
Spaceport Authority Chairwoman Daniela Glick said the spaceport project is starting to feel tangible, as were the moon and shuttle missions of the past.
“The community is starting to see it,” she said, citing the number of people signed up to attend Saturday’s launch. “Space is becoming a reality again, and I think people are starting to see what is going to be the economic impact of this.”
It hasn’t been easy to get here, and the spaceport is about two years behind the schedule first laid out by state officials in 2006. But Glick and Landeene are sounding increasingly confident in the project.
“It’s taken some time, but the vision is really becoming reality,” Glick said.
Studies have predicted that the spaceport will be a major economic boon to the area, but there haven’t been many tangible results yet, other than the construction of a road to the spaceport, which is located in a remote area some 40 miles northeast of Las Cruces.
John Hummer, a Las Cruces realtor whose company, Steinborn TCN, represents the Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University, said the spaceport has created an increase in interest in the area from commercial businesses. He said his company has fielded inquiries about locating at the NMSU research park.
“It has created some curiosity and phone calls from people gathering information and preparing for the eventual opening of the spaceport,” Hummer said.
‘A great showcase for what is possible’
Such economic development is one of three “pillars” of the spaceport project, Landeene said. The others are tourism and education, and he said the last is exciting because working with schools gets the community involved.
Jennifer Kozlowski of Las Cruces, who worked in the state economic development department as the spaceport project started several years ago, said she would also like to see an open house or celebration to update locals about the project.
“I like celebrations to drum up excitement. Let me know how this affects me, and how this makes New Mexico better,” she said.
Bill McCamley, a former Doña Ana County commissioner who helped sell a local tax increase to help fund the spaceport, said events like Saturday’s launch will also spread the word and drum up excitement.
“It’s a great showcase for what is possible,” he said.