Guest Thinkers — March 9, 2011

New Mexico: Space Tourism Hub

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism venture will call New Mexico its home. A new spaceport will open to visitors in the spring for much less than a $200,000 ticket to space.

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New Mexico may soon rival Florida’s ability to inspire the human imagination through space flight. The world’s most ambitious space tourism venture, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, will call the southwest state its home. “Spaceport America is situated in the desert on a 27-square-mile site between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences. It is designed by the internationally renowned Foster and Partners and construction is on schedule to be completed by the summer of 2011. The project reached a major milestone in October 2010 when the runway was dedicated in a ceremony attended by former New Mexico Governor Richardson.”

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