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WHERE WILL IT BE
LOCATED?
Spaceport America will be yet another neighbor of White Sands National
Monument. It will be located in southern Sierra County, near Upham, 45
miles northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
US consulting firm Futron estimates the
New Mexico spaceport could create 3460 new jobs and $460 million
spending in the state by 2015.
WHEN WILL THEY BE READY?
Spaceport America is scheduled to open for business late 2009, early 2010.
The space trip will last approximately 2 1/2 hours. There will be 3 days
pre-flight preparation, bonding and training onsite at the Spaceport.
Initially, there will be one flight per week. As operations progress, this
will increase to one and potentially two flights per day.
Tickets go for US$200,000. The company
has been selling tickets since 2005 and already hundreds have signed up.
The first 100 had to pay their full US$200,000 fare up front.
May 8, 2007 - USA Today reports that so
far 47 travel agents have signed up as Space Agents with Virgin.
Read the USA Today article which also
includes interviews with some that already have signed on as passengers.
However, if the technical development
of the spaceship is completed earlier than the construction of Spaceport
America, people will be launched from Mojave Spaceport, California, where
Burt Rutan shaped, formed, and optimized Virgin Galactic's spacecrafts.
VIRGIN - THE WORLD'S FIRST
COMMERCIAL SPACELINE?
Photo: Virgin Galactic
WHO PAYS FOR ALL
THIS?
The company's website states that Virgin Galactic has "committed the
resources required to ensure proper funding."
Virgin Galactic will receive a funding of $100 million
from the
State of New Mexico, so the State decided in 2006. In addition, the State
will design and construct all necessary facilities.
And on top of that the
people in Doņa Ana County voted on Tuesday, April 3, 2007, on the subject of whether or
not they are willing to pitch in by means of paying higher taxes.
See final spaceport tax election results here.
However, in order to charge an
additional tax two counties have to approve it. On Tuesday, April 22,
2008, Sierra County did exactly that. These fine people are now helping
the spaceport out with a 0.25% sales tax. In other words, the spaceport
gets 25 cents for each $100 purchased. And here is a
map of the counties in
New Mexico. Look southwest.
THE NEW SPACESHIP WILL
ALLOW SIX
PASSENGERS AND TWO PILOTS PER FLIGHT
Photo: Virgin Galactic
Via press release of March 28, 2007, the New Mexico Economic Development
Department announced that Virgin Galactic signed a Memorandum of Agreement
with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority setting out the terms under which
Virgin Galactic would lease approximately 83,400 square feet of hangar and
terminal facilities at Spaceport America.
The NMSA will construct common facilities that will include runways,
emergency facilities, fuel storage and delivery, perimeter security,
restaurant and concessions, and visitor viewing areas. Tenants will pay
User Fees to use these facilities.
In effect, the NMSA will build and own the Virgin Galactic facilities and
then lease them to Virgin Galactic.
Spaceport America is expected to have the potential to create up to 5,000
new jobs and up to $1 billion in new revenue in the State.
April 7, 2008 - The New Mexico
Spaceport Authority gave Executive Director
Steve Landeene the authority to sign an agreement between the state and Spaceport America anchor tenant Virgin
Galactic. The agreement commits the British firm to a 20-year lease to
host its space tourism operations at the spaceport.
SPACEPORT AMERICA
... an artist's rendering
WHAT ELSE IS VIRGIN
GALACTIC UP TO?
Spaceports across the world are envisioned with specially selected travel
agents offering to sign on for the ultimate trip. The European spaceport
is planned to be located in Sweden.
Check out
Virgin Galactic.
July 26, 2007 - Mojave, California:
There has been a huge explosion at Virgin Galactic's rocket
garage. Associated Press reports three fatalities. The Mojave Air and Space Port is run by Scaled Composites, the
company that develops spacecrafts for Virgin Galactic.
April 12, 2008 - Virgin Galactic
confirms long term interest in setting up a spaceport in Australia.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON
AT THE SPACEPORT?
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The company UP Aerospace has already launched the remains of Astronaut L
Gordon Cooper, Actor James Doohan (Scotty on Star Trek, see picture) and
200 others into space. The date: April
28, 2007. In fact, the 20-foot-rocket made a 4-minute suborbital flight,
parachuted back to earth, and was recovered from the top of the San Andres Mountain
range May 18, 2007.
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The company logged another successful
launch in December 2007, though details of that commercially sensitive
mission haven't been disclosed. It is rumored to have been a a small
demonstration launch to test proprietary technology currently under
development by Lockheed Martin. Additional flights are planned at UP
Aerospace through
the second half of 2008 year, beginning in June.
For $2,000 you too can let UP Aerospace
shoot your items of choice into space.
Check out
UP Aerospace.
April 9, 2008 - UP Aerospace signs a
10-year memorandum of understanding to continue using the site. UP
Aerospace president Jerry Larson said no contract is involved but the
agreement reaffirms the company's plans. "It's more of a gentlemen's
agreement, a handshake deal to show we intend to get this done," Larson
said.
April 10, 2008 - Microgravity
Enterprises Inc, based in Albuquerque NM, also signed a memorandum.
April 15, 2008 - Another non-binding
agreement was announced this morning with aerospace giant Lockheed
Martin, the third such agreement in the weeks leading up to a crucial
tax referendum Tuesday in Sierra County. The development agreement is a
precursor to a lease but is not an actual lease. The agreement would
commit the British firm to a 20-year lease at the spaceport but does not
include any financial terms of the deal. Lockheed - the world's largest
aerospace company, with $42 billion in revenue - has already tested some
new launch technologies at the Spaceport through subcontracts with
Colorado-based UP Aerospace.
THE SPACEPORT AND THE
GOVERNMENT OF NEW MEXICO
July 9, 2008 - The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) launches
their website. Check it out at
spaceportamerica.com
July 3, 2008 - Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed Daniela Glick
chairwoman for the Spaceport Authority.
May 2, 2007 - Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed Rick Homans
executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the body that
manages Spaceport America. Homans will leave his post as state secretary
of economic development immediately to oversee construction of the
spaceport.
June 4, 2007 - Las Cruces City Council
unanimously approves of selling 45 acres at the West Mesa Industrial Park
to Grabois Development, a limited liability company based in Miami, for
$1.2 million.
The owner, Mr Adam Grabois, plans to sell and lease space in speculative
buildings in the industrial park. Constructions will commence this fall.
Grabois previously made a healthy buck in real estate in Manhattan and
Florida's south.
June 6, 2007 - Will the spaceport
endanger historic landmarks? New Mexicans get panicky. Rick Homans answers
by putting the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail on
the endangered list of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Or he
rather announced today that the National Trust will do so next week.
June 14, 2007 - And so they did...
Check the
complete list provided by the National Trust for
Historic Preservation.
July 4, 2007 - We picked up on a vibe
that Rick Homans quit his job. Weird things are happening.
July 11, 2007 - That's right. Homan
signed up with a rubber recycling company that will have its headquarter
in Albuquerque and its factory in Gallup. Nice twist: Actor Mel Gibson is
one of its investors. Who's gonna be the new exec of the NM Spaceport
Authority? We wonder.
Update December 6, 2007 - The new
executive director for Spaceport America is Steven Landeene, who will have
his first day at his desk on January 7, 2008. Steve's profile: Last job as
the director of strategy and planning for sales and marketing of Landmark
Aviation in Phoenix. Bachelor's from the University of Illinois, master's
from Arizona State University.
August 1, 2007 - A team of U.S. and
British architects has been selected to design a terminal and hangar for
the states fledgling spaceport in Southern New Mexico. Engineering and
design firm URS Corp. and British architectural firm Foster + Partners
submitted the winning design, spaceport officials said.
VIRGIN GALACTIC AND NASA
February 21, 2007 - NASA officials signed a memorandum of understanding
Tuesday with a U.S. company, Virgin Galactic, LLC, to explore the
potential for collaborations on the development of space suits, heat
shields for spaceships, hybrid rocket motors and hypersonic vehicles
capable of traveling five or more times the speed of sound.
Read press release.
More about NASA at White Sands.
OTHER SPACEPORTS
Other commercial spaceports in the US are located at Oklahoma, Florida,
Virginia, Alaska, and two spaceports in California.
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