Spaceport America

Did you watch the televised hype around Sir Richard Branson becoming the first billionaire to go into space? I did. And I distinctly recall how he rode his bike to the launch site at Spaceport America. (Video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/4ZX_7–S0Z4)

It turns out Spaceport America is about a little over an hour’s drive from Las Cruces. For Christmas, Janelle gifted Jim a tour of Spaceport. Yup, we were going to follow in Sir Richard Branson’s footsteps…or should that be tire tracks?

But what exactly is Spaceport America? Jim and I both assumed it was just a launching pad for Virgin Galactic. We were so wrong. There is so much more than just Branson’s pet project. Spaceport is actually owned by the Government of New Mexico. They lease building space and runway rights to outside ventures. The current tenants working in the Spaceport are HAPSMobile Aerovironment, UP Aerospace, SpinLaunch, and Virgin Galactic.[

Our tour started in the little town of Truth or Consequences. Yes, that is really the town’s name. That’s a whole other story. From Wikipedia:


The city changed its name from Hot Springs[7] to Truth or Consequences as the result of a radio show contest. In March 1950, Ralph Edwards, the host of the popular NBC Radio quiz show Truth or Consequences, announced that he would air the program on its 10th anniversary from the first town that renamed itself after the show; Hot Springs officially changed its name on March 31, 1950, and the program was broadcast from there the following evening. Edwards visited the town during the first weekend of May for the next 50 years. This event became known as Fiesta and eventually included a beauty contest, a parade, and a stage show. The city still celebrates Fiesta each year during the first weekend of May. The parade generally features local dignitaries, last year’s Miss Fiesta pageant queen, and the winner of Hatch Chile Queen pageant. Fiesta also features a dance in Ralph Edwards Park.[7]


A tour is the only way the public can see Spaceport with the exception of an open house held one day a year…and I bet they don’t get to see all we saw.

Our ride…just us and 10 new BFFs.

We had a 40 minute van ride out to Spaceport. Why so far out?

Spaceport appears to be in the middle of nowhere. But there is a reason why it is located where it is. It is adjacent to White Sands Missile Range. Spaceport and White Sands make up one of only two permanent no-fly-zones in the United States. The other? The White House. Source: Our tour guide.

Our first stop was at the $200,000, 11,000 pound sculpture called Genesis. It greets visitors at the entrance. It has mirrored glass discs to reflect the light and represent stars.

This was a photo-op spot. You can see the Virgin Galactic facility in the background on the right behind the two gentleman.
The long entry into Spaceport as seen from inside the facility. Where’s Sir Richard?
The Virgin Galactic facility is called the GTS (Gateway to Space). More on this building later….

We spent a considerable amount of time at the SOC (Spaceport Operations Center). This was a very unusual shaped building covered in ceramic tile.

From https://www.resinarchitecture.com/spaceport-america-soc, “This 27,600 s.f. highly customized insulated concrete thin shell facility is an ellipsoid shaped structure that is completely free-spanning. This means that even though there are internal walls to separate different rooms and areas, none of the walls are used to support the dome structure itself. The facility is used as a fire station and business offices for the Spaceport America campus.”

The building is definitely unique. But I wouldn’t be in a hurry to build one of these structures. Look at this picture.

Inside the lobby we noticed one of the walls was starting to buckle and crack. Oops!

We visited Mission Control inside the SOC. It was impressive for being not impressive. It looked like any other ordinary office with big windows!

The windows of “Mission Control” over look the runway.
We also got to explore the emergency vehicles at the other end of the SOC. These fire trucks were truly unique due to the types of fires they would be fighting (exploding rocket ships!). We had the opportunity to sit inside them and learned more from one of the firefighters. The truck shown here has joysticks inside to control the water and foam nozzles…sort of like a video game.

After the visit to the SOC, we got to drive out onto the runway. Before we could cross onto the runway proper, our van had to stop and the driver got out to make sure there were not any foreign objects in the van’s tires that could be left on the runway.

The runway is 2.27 miles long and 46″ thick. Impressive!

Our final stop was the GTS where Virgin Galactic has a 20 year lease.

I took this picture from inside the van. You can see the reflection of the van in the glass.
They wouldn’t let us get too close on this side. The bottom floor houses reception areas. The hanger doors are on the left and right sides of the glass facade.
On the other side of the GTS and for our final stop, we got to visit the third floor of the hanger. Up the ramp we go! Now we WERE walking in Branson’s footsteps.
Looking back down the tunnel as we walked up the ramp. You can just barely see the steel sculpture at the entrance.
If you recall the Branson bike video I posted at the beginning of this blog, he and three astronauts seemed to walk into darkness at the end of the ramp. This is what they were walking towards. There are actually three doors here, left, right and center. We entered on the left to a visitor’s gallery.
The highlight of this area was a training centrifuge that subjects the lucky occupants to G forces. Jim and I declined, but a number of people took a spin. The young gentleman in this picture and the following video went up to 4 G’s. (Video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/tkS–lNvfHY).
One final sight we saw from afar was SpinLaunch. Half as tall as a football field is long, this is a centrifuge in a vacuum environment. They spin a payload around and around in the vacuum (no air resistance) and then fling it out through the tube into space. Really! Who knew such a thing existed? We only saw it from a distance, so I had to borrow this picture from their website.

We really enjoyed our Spaceport tour (Thanks Janelle!). There are a number of tenants on site. The marketing literature calls Spaceport “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport”, designed and constructed specifically for commercial users, that had not previously been an airport or federal infrastructure of any kind.” It is going to be kind of neat to see what gets launched from here in the future.

4 thoughts on “Spaceport America

  1. Jerry

    Awesome! Do you remember the name of the fire apparatus manufacturer? Pierce/Oshkosh which Churchville Fire Equipment represents fabricate these for many facilities. Keep enjoying your travels!
    “Jerry”

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