By Rene Romo
Albuquerque Journal APRIL 19, 2009

LAS CRUCES — Boosters of Spaceport America hope the launch center — besides being a boon to economic development — will inspire young New Mexicans to pursue math and science education and, ultimately, careers in aerospace.

They're giving New Mexico students an opportunity described as unique in the nation — a chance, on an annual basis, to send scientific payloads on rockets to the edge of space.
"I'd like to get a space-based economy established here in New Mexico," said Patricia Hynes, director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, which is paying for the cost of the student payloads. "To help companies coming here, we need an educated work force."

The first launch is scheduled for 8 a.m. May 2 from a concrete pad in Upham.

A 20-foot tall SpaceLoft XL rocket provided by UP Aerospace will carry scientific payloads designed by high school students from Hatch, Cloudcroft, Truth or Consequences and Las Cruces. Students at New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico, ITT Technical Institute and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute will also have payloads on the rocket. The launch is sponsored by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and UP Aerospace.

"It's about getting kids in the classroom to work on a real launch, doing the launch, analyzing the data," said Steve Landeene, executive director of the state Spaceport Authority.
Steve Horan, head of the electrical engineering department at NMSU, is supervising a team of four students who developed a payload that will measure acceleration, altitude and radiation levels during the rocket's flight. The rocket will soar to 70 miles above sea level before descending by parachute.

"We definitely want the students to have these kinds of hands-on projects they can be involved in," said Horan, a longtime advocate of the spaceport.
The May 2 launch will be open to limited public viewing. For information, visit www.spaceportamerica.com.

Meanwhile, southern New Mexico school officials are taking steps to prepare students to support the expected boom in space-related industry.

School districts in T or C, Hatch, Las Cruces and southern Doña Ana County have begun making plans to pump a quarter of the revenue generated by a spaceport sales tax — which will help fund the spaceport's construction — into math and science education.

A provision setting aside part of spaceport tax revenue for education helped sway voters in Sierra and Doña Ana counties to approve the tax hike in elections in 2007 and 2008.