Spaceport launches terminal project

UPHAM, N.M. (KRQE) - Construction of the runway at Spaceport America already is underway, and now the state has awarded a $32 million contract to build the hanger and passenger terminal.

The 10,000-foot runway at the burgeoning spaceport east of Truth or Consequences is already quickly becoming a reality.

It was just a patch of dirt a couple of months ago, but giant tractors and paving machines are quickly turning this into a place where in 2011 rocket ships are to begin carrying tourists outside the planet's atmosphere...

Virgin Galactic is already preparing both a jet-powered mothership and under its belly a rocket ship to carry tourists up for about five minutes of floating around in outer space.

The road from T or C that the first visitors to the spaceport will travel, once miles of dirt ruts, is now almost all paved.

But this is space tourism after all, and space tourists need a space terminal. That's the next thing going up here.

Earlier this week the New Mexico Spaceport Authority awarded the contract for building the ultra-futuristic terminal and hangar complex.

The spaceport director said Summit West of Albuquerque had the lowest bid.

The 110,000-square foot facility will house Virgin Galactic's world headquarters and provide a passenger terminal and storage for the spacecraft.

The director said the project will generate several hundred new jobs.

There are still some contracts that haven't been handed out at the $200 million Spaceport America.

Those include the communications and security systems and buildings for security officers and firefighters.