{"id":375,"date":"2006-07-17T08:05:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-17T14:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/spaceport-launch-delayed-reset-again\/"},"modified":"2006-07-17T08:05:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-17T14:05:00","slug":"spaceport-launch-delayed-reset-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/spaceport-launch-delayed-reset-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Spaceport launch delayed, reset, again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The date of the first launch from the Southwest Regional Spaceport has been delayed again, and reset, again.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

UP Aerospace postponed its Aug. 14 launch late last week, only about a week after the date was announced. It was the third time the launch, which was originally set for March, has been delayed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The company said it was awaiting the arrival of a delayed part for its rocket.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On Saturday Eric Knight, UP Aerospace\u2019s CEO, told the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> the launch has been rescheduled for September. Because White<\/st1:placename> Sands<\/st1:placename> Missile<\/st1:placename> Range<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> has to OK the landing of the rocket on the range, the exact date isn\u2019t yet set, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Connecticut-based company plans to launch the rocket 70 miles into suborbital space. Data from the flight is necessary so the state can apply for an FAA license.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

UP Aerospace now says it plans two launches in September, one in October and another later this year.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The company originally planned as many as six launches this year.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a delicate balancing act here: Everything has to be perfect. A failed launch could be catastrophic for the future of the spaceport and the company. At the same time, other states are building spaceports. The time to act is now.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

When the state pledged more than $100 million for the project, the legislature and public were promised that big things would happen this year. The time for a launch has arrived. The time for a written commitment from Virgin Galactic, in the form of a 20-year lease, is now.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There are many spaceport doubters who are starting to say, \u201cI told you so.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope the September launch isn\u2019t delayed again.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 9 a.m. <\/span>Officials are announcing that they are changing the spaceport\u2019s name to Spaceport America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. I\u2019m going to leave it as Southwest Regional Spaceport in this week\u2019s poll because the name is too new to be easily recognizable.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The date of the first launch from the Southwest Regional Spaceport has been delayed again, and reset, again. UP Aerospace postponed its Aug. 14 launch late last week, only about a week after the date was announced. It was the third time the launch, which was originally set for March, has been delayed. The company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}