spacetoday.net: Spaceport America director resigns

Posted: Fri, Jan 7, 2011, 7:01 AM ET (1201 GMT)
Spaceport America illustration

The executive director of Spaceport America, the commercial spaceport under construction in New Mexico, announced this week his resignation as part of a change in state government. Rick Homans said he would resign at the end of this week at the request of the state's new governor, Susana Martinez, who took office at the beginning of the month. Homans had been executive director since the middle of last year and previously supported the spaceport' as the state's economic development secretary. He had expressed a desire to remain as executive director despite the change in administrations but was told by the new governor to resign or be fired. A spokesman for the governor said that a search for a replacement is underway, but gave no timeline for picking a new director. The spaceport, under construction in the southern part of the state north of Las Cruces, is expected to be completed later this year. Suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic will be the facility's anchor tenant.