Day Six: Spaceport America. Almost

In the desert outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, basically in the middle of nowhere, sits Spaceport America. It is the only spaceport in the world built for the purpose of accommodating commercial spaceflights.

While it is technically owned by the State of New Mexico, thus allowing it to be sited on 18,000 acres of Public Trust Land, Virgin Galactic, owned by Sir Richard Branson, is the tenant. Of equal interest to me is that fact that the 18,000 acres hosting Spaceport America, sit in the middle of a 350,000-acre old Spanish land grant now owned by Ted Turner.  Best buds in commerce?

Another interesting fact is that the location is just to the east of the White Sands Missile Testing Range, which is ideal for the spaceport because the missile range has restricted air space, thus protecting the Spaceport from curious aviators or “bad actors.”

Also, the Spaceport sits at 4600 feet above sea level in the high desert which means that much larger payloads can be launched using the same amount of fuel as would be used at lower levels.  Gosh, it’s environmentally friendly. Though the terminal was built to mimic the desert surrounds and nearly disappears from view at higher altitudes. 

The runway is currently 10,000 feet long and 43 inches of poured concrete thick (so environmentally friendly), with another 2000 in length being added to accommodate the safe landing of spacecraft with full rockets.

So, this spaceport, sitting on public land, owned by the State of Mexico, subsidized by public dollars and tax subsidies is NOT open to the public.

This is as close as you can get. There are armed “security personnel” to help redirect you should you want to visit your public facility.

In the meantime, should you successfully find a way to follow along, the 7^th Galactic Research and Commercial Launch is scheduled for June 8, 2025.

Tickets to ride begin at $450,000 for four chosen passengers who will board the Unity, the small aircraft attached to spacecraft Eve until she blasts off into deeper space. At the time, Unity disengages and resumes normal super jet flight until landing.

These four will apparently experience a few moments of weightlessness.

Get your tickets now!

The research crew’s names are not made public. They are referred to as Astronauts 027, 028, 029, and 030.  Virgin Galactic’s crew names have been released. VSS Unity Commander Nicola Pecile and pilot Jameel Janjua will be joined by VMS Eve Commander Andy Edgell and pilot C.J. Sturckow. Also of note, Axiom Space is a financial partner.

Apparently, an alignment pin detached from Galactic 06 mission on January 06, 2024, sending Unity and those aboard, into a freefall flight. No one was injured.

The FAA investigation into why this happened just concluded, findings not available to the public. Still, mission 07, the twelfth total galactic flight thus far of Branson’s dream, has been cleared for take off.

There is a very small visitor’s center at the north end of T of C with limited hours. It recently relocated from this larger one due to “finances.”  Not very reassuring.

Here’s the old center.

It’s much cooler to look at than the tiny new one sharing space with other tourist shops.

In any case,  I missed out on the limited guided PR tours available at certain times for folks who sign up. The center does sell expensive merch for those who still want a taste, tour or no.

I thought perhaps, since it’s a publicly owned enterprise, the public would get a free tee-shirt ($30) if we asked nicely.

Naw.

“This cup makes a more budget friendly gift”, I was told.

I opted out.

I’m waiting to use up my hella lot of frequent flyer miles. Maybe Virgin Galactic will become a partner airline.

As a member of the public, therefore a co-owner of the publicly owned Spaceport, I expect a discount.