Tour Spaceport America
Although tenant operations remain private, public tours are offered of the spaceport grounds. Final Frontier Tours departs from Visit Las Cruces, 336 S. Main St. Tour guides offer background of the site and visitors can experience the G-Shock simulator and see the runway to space– all in the beautiful high desert of southern New Mexico. Tours must be booked in advance.
By Kirsten Rodgers Did you ever dream of going to space as a child? To float around without gravity holding you down, eat the fascinating astronaut food, and exploring the vastness that is space? While I didn’t quite…
The Future of Space Travel
55 mile north of Las Cruces, NM
Spaceport America is the world’s first commercial spaceport designed and constructed for commercial space flight. It is located 45 miles north of Las Cruces at an elevation of 4,600 above sea level. Built on 18,000 acres of land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin, the spaceport is adjacent to the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range and under 6,000 square miles of protected airspace.
Spaceport America has FAA-licensed horizontal and vertical launch areas that attract innovative entrepreneurial tenants including some of the most well-respected companies in the commercial space industry: anchor tenant Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace, HAPSMobile, AeroVironment, SpinLaunch, and more.
On May 10, 2019 Sir Richard Branson announced that Virgin Galactic would be moving its California operations to Spaceport America near Las Cruces over the coming summer, in preparation for the world’s first commercial space flights.
“New Mexico delivered on its promise to build a world-first and world-class spaceport. Today, I could not be more excited to announce that in return, we are now ready to bring New Mexico a world-first, world-class spaceline. Virgin Galactic is coming home to New Mexico, where together we will open space to change the world for good." - Sir Richard Branson
Since 2019, Spaceport America in New Mexico has been at the forefront of breakthrough space exploration and commercial aerospace activity. This innovative hub continues to make strides with historic missions, test launches, and important partnerships. Here are some of the key highlights and achievements from Spaceport America in recent years:
- Since 2019, Spaceport America has been a hub for space innovation, hosting commercial launches, tests, and key aerospace partnerships.
- Virgin Galactic relocated its operations in 2019, completing successful glide and powered test flights of SpaceShipTwo, including a historic crewed flight in May 2021.
- UP Aerospace has conducted suborbital missions, such as the SpaceLoft-20 flight for Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- SpinLaunch tested its kinetic launch system, and Intuitive Machines performed precision landing trials to support future lunar missions.
- In 2020, Spaceport America partnered with C6 Launch Systems for vertical engine tests, enhancing small satellite launch capabilities.
- In 2022, Sierra Space signed an agreement to use Spaceport America as a landing site for its Dream Chaser® spaceplane, marking future orbital reentry missions.
- These developments and partnerships position Spaceport America as a leader in commercial spaceflight and aerospace technology.
