Spaceport America Marks Inaugural Launch

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Spaceport America Marks Inaugural Launch

Monday, 25 September 2006 00:00

New Mexico's "Spaceport America" www.spaceportamerica.com and UP Aerospace, Inc., www.upaerospace.us.com announce that at 2:14 pm today, UP Aerospace launched its Spaceloft XL vehicle from Spaceport America in New Mexico's Sierra County.

UP Aerospace had hoped the rocket would reach lower orbit, approximately 350,000 feet. However, the rocket reached just over 40,000 feet and then returned to Earth. "While the particular mission didn't meet its objectives, we were able to perform the first launch from Spaceport America, and we did it safely and by the book," said Rick Homans, New Mexico Secretary of Economic Development. "This was a major milestone for the spaceport and a big step toward our larger vision of a fully operational spaceport serving many customers."

"Spaceport America, in a little more than one year, developed a professional team, communications systems, infrastructure, and procedures to safely complete today's launch and pave the way for many more in the near future," said Lonnie Sumpter, Excecutive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and the Launch Director for today's launch.

UP Aerospace officials said they would study the data, including the recovered rocket, to determine the exact cause of the problem.

They said they intend to continue launching from Spaceport America once they have determined and fixed the problems associated with today's launch.