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Spaceport America (Also known as Southwest Regional Spaceport) is located on 27 square-miles of state-owned desert near Upham, New Mexico, 45 miles north of Las Cruces, and 30 miles east of Truth or Consequences. It was started in 2003 by a non-profit group called the Southwest Space Taskforce. It is the first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport in the United States of America. The $225 million venture was announced in mid-December 2005 in Santa Fe. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to launch its first flight from the spaceport in 2009. Virgin has already collected its $200,000 per-person fee from the first 100 passengers. It was reported on April 4,2006 that construction at the spaceport site had started, with the first unmanned launches expected in fall 2006. The Connecticut firm of UP Aerospace, with their SpaceLoft series of suborbital sounding rockets are expected to be among the first users of the new facilities. Once completed, Spaceport America is expected to be the venue for the annual X Prize Cup suborbital spaceflight competitions. The first launch from the site was the unsuccessful maiden flight of the SpaceLoft XL rocket, on September 25, 2006
Maps & Directions Companies Using the Spaceport Future of Spaceport "Spaceport America definitely shows a lot of promise. The million and billionaires investing their money in these ideas didn't get rich by making poor decisions. The government officials in our state are wise to invest money in what could provide much needed revenue and jobs in our area. The commercial spaceflight industry definitely can succeed. What we have yet to see is whether it will." See also | ||||||||
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