Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport, is the nation’s only FAA-licensed horizontal and vertical launch spaceport. Sitting on 18,000 acres of State Trust Land in Sierra County, the spaceport can host suborbital and orbital launches, various aerospace operations, and a wide variety of non-aerospace activities.

 

Administratively attached to the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD), Spaceport America’s mission includes the development, maintenance, financing, construction, and operation of New Mexico’s spaceport facilities, creating new job opportunities, and promoting the education and training of the workforce to accomplish those tasks.

 

The site features over a half-dozen full-time tenants ranging from commercial space flight companies, small unmanned aerial systems (UAS), to High-Altitude Platform System (HAPS) providers. Virgin Galactic, AeroVironment, Prismatic Ltd., UP Aerospace, Isotropic, Swift Engineering, and SpinLaunch all have a permanent presence at the site.

 

To date, Spaceport America’s anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, has sent a total of 32 humans to space. Over a 13-month period (May of 2023 through June of 2024), Virgin Galactic launched eight separate crewed spaceflights from the spaceport, and in June 2021, made New Mexico the third state in the nation to successfully host humans going to space.

 

As an example of the growing economic impact of the spaceport, in a study from 2022, over $60 million in “new” money was added to the local economy, along with the creation of 810 jobs in the area. Those numbers are expected to rise over the coming years as Spaceport America continues to add customers and work toward orbital launch.

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