Groundbreaking held for NM spaceport

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (KRQE) - A groundbreaking for New Mexico's Spaceport America means hundreds of construction workers will be needed to construct the massive facility.

It's just one of the major economic impacts that the state plans for the futuristic project.

Heavy machinery, not shovels, broke ground Friday on the $200 million spaceport. The machines scooped some dirt up and put in a rocket that would soon zip toward space.

Dignitaries tout the hundreds of construction jobs that will follow. They also predict that thousands more jobs will come after the new space industry takes off.

"By launching commercial space in this Spaceport America, we took the risk, we gambled and we won," Gov. Bill Richardson, D-NM.

Spaceport America and its main tenant—Virgin Galactic—said government space programs are shrinking and private industry is taking over.

"And that industry has to go somewhere and we're well positioned in NM to attract that. We already have and that is gonna continue," Spaceport America Director Steve Landeene said.

Virgins and others plan to launch tourist missions and scientific endeavors from the future New Mexico Spaceport.

It may just be a desert at the moment, but a couple of years from now the area around the spaceport will be transformed in 10,000 foot paved ramp.

Right now, it's a hard place for man and beast. Centuries ago, the earliest western settlers from Mexico came up the old Camino Real trail.

Virgin's test flights will launch in California, but the company's owner said New Mexico's Spaceport America will have a place in history.

"The inaugural commercial flight with the first paying passengers and himself on board is gonna be from Spaceport America in New Mexico," Virgin Galactic President Granger Whitelaw said.

There will also be one free ticket each year for a New Mexico science student.

The White Knight Two, which will help carry tourists at Spaceport America, is coming to New Mexico briefly Saturday.