spacetoday.net: Ground broken for Spaceport America

Posted: Mon, Jun 22, 2009, 7:30 AM ET (1130 GMT)
Spaceport America illustration

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for Spaceport America, a new commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The facility, located in the New Mexico desert north of Las Cruces, is being developed primarily for suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic, although a number of other companies have plans to use the site as well. Construction will begin soon on the spaceport's facilities, including a runway and terminal, and is slated to be completed in 18 to 24 months. The groundbreaking ceremony was slated to feature a flyover by WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft, but a minor problem caused the aircraft to diverted to Phoenix. The problem, a warning light for a speedbrake actuator, was corrected, and the aircraft flew over Las Cruces on Saturday morning.