Spaceport America History

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The unveiling of the Spaceport America brand shines light on a visionary project many years in the making. New Mexico’s weather and wide-open spaces have been ideal for the aerospace industry since Robert Goddard, the Father of Modern Rocketry, began conducting research in Roswell in the 1930s. He was followed by Wernher von Braun in the 1940s, and NASA in the 1980s.

By the early 1990s, a group of like-minded individuals called, the Southwest Space Task Force, felt the impetus to take New Mexico’s space industry to the next level: commercial space and reusable launch vehicles. Based on years of study, they zeroed in on 27 square-miles of state-owned land, 45 miles north of Las Cruces as a location for an inland spaceport. When Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Rick Homans took office in 2003, they went to him and pleaded their case.

Homans then picked up the torch, presenting the idea of a New Mexico spaceport to Governor Richardson, negotiating with the X Prize Foundation to locate the X Prize Cup in New Mexico, spearheading legislation to finance the spaceport, and most recently, recruiting four aerospace mavericks — including Virgin Galactic — to New Mexico.

Highlights of New Mexico Space History

	2010
Second Annual New Mexico Education Launch As part of New Mexico Space Grant Consortium's mission to promote space programs and education to New Mexico students and educators, the second annual New Mexico Education Launch took place on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 from Spaceport America. Photograph courtesy of Bob Martin KRQE Television.

		Space Flight Informed Consent On February 27, 2010, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed the Space Flight Informed Consent Act into law.

Discover Magazine Recognizes Spaceport America In their January/February 2010 issue, Discover named the top 100 discoveries that are poised to change the world in 2010.

	2009
Spaceport America Hardhat Tours Announced NMSA officials announced the availability of paid public hardhat tours of the Spaceport America construction site beginning December 2009.

		Spaceport Runway Construction Begins David Montoya Construction begins the construction of the 10,000 foot by 200 foot Spaceport America runway in August of 2009. Image courtesy Mark Greenberg.

Major Aerospace Company Moog Successfully Launches R & D Mission from Spaceport America Aerospace manufacturing company Moog- FTS successfully launches from Spaceport America on August 4, 2009. The launch was a test of a ground-launched Ground Launched Research and Development Prototype.

		Lunar Lander Pad Construction Spaceport America has installed three launch pads for NASA’s 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Centennial Challenge. The launch area is named 'Tranquility Base' to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon mission, the trio of lunar lander launch pads was constructed the week of June 22, 2009.

WhiteKnightTwo Flies Over Las Cruces International Airport Virgin Galactic WhiteKnightTwo mothership "EVE" flew over the Las Cruces airport on Saturday, June 20th 2009.

		Spaceport America Groundbreaking New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson speaks during the Spaceport America groundbreaking ceremonies on Friday, June 19, 2009.

First Annual New Mexico Education Launch The New Mexico Spaceport Authority, UP Aerospace and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium hosted an education launch at Spaceport America on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009.

	2008
		Spaceport America and Virgin Galactic Sign Historic Lease Agreement. Virgin Galactic signs a 20-year lease agreement with the State of New Mexico on December 31, 2008. Virgin Galactic’s world headquarters will be established in New Mexico and its operations will be located at Spaceport America.

FAA Awards Spaceport America Launch Site Operator License The New Mexico Spaceport Authority received its launch license for vertical launch activity from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) on Monday, December 15, 2008.

		X PRIZE Lunar Lander Challenge Armadillo Aerospace captures $350,000 in prize money for successfully completing Level One of the two-tiered competition held at the Las Cruces International Airport October 24-25, 2008.

	2007
UP Aerospace successfully launches a Lockheed Martin test rocket system.

		Spaceport America design concepts, created by URS/Foster + Partners, unveiled to the public.

UP Aerospace successfully launches SL-2 rocket to the edge of space carrying commercial and scientific payloads.

	2006
		The Spaceport America brand is unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Governor Richardson and the New Mexico legislature enact laws providing for the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.

	2005
		Governor Richardson and Sir Richard Branson Announce Virgin Galactic World Headquarters in New Mexico on December 14, 2005.

New Mexico hosts the first annual X Prize Cup in Las Cruces. As many as 20,000 people attend.

	2004
		New Mexico becomes the host for the X Prize Cup annual space flight exhibition.

	1979
White Sands Missile Range is named a landing site for NASA’s Space Shuttle. NASA missions continue through the eighties and nineties.

	1961
		HAM, a chimpanzee named for Holloman Aero Medical Laboratory in Alamogordo, is the first chimp in space.

	1957
The Manhigh high-altitude balloon test program flies from Holloman Air Force Base pre-astronauts into the Stratosphere.

	1954
		Col. Paul Stapp conducts a record breaking high-speed rocket sled test at Holloman Air Force Base.

	1946
Wernher von Braun launches the V-2 rocket from the then-named White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico.

	1929
		Ridiculed for his unconventional ideas, Robert Goddard relocates from New England to Roswell, New Mexico, to build his experimental rockets in peace. He would become known as the Father of Modern Rocketry.