A Visit to Spaceport America
Like many small boys who grew up in the ‘70s I wanted
to be an astronaut. So when Virgin bought out the X-prize winning SpaceShip One
project from Scaled Composites I seriously thought about saving hard and
signing up, at a time when a reservation would have been <relatively>
affordable.
Glad I didn’t do it now. For one thing I’ve
better things to do with that kind of money and for another I’ll be
getting a bit old by the time it starts taking passengers! That’s how
long it’s been.
Now, a visit to Virgin Galactic’s home at Spaceport
America is doubtless as close as I’ll ever get.
History
Spaceport America was largely funded by the state with the
hope of creating a multi-function base for space operations, not just for its
famous customer Virgin Galactic. Signed off in around 2006, for some years the
‘Spaceport’ was just a concrete pad for vertical launches of
‘Up Aerospace’.
It lies in a vast desert valley in eastern New Mexico to the
east of I-25. The desert here is named the Jornada Del Muerto after a wagon
route from the days of the Camino Real. Just 50km north of here is Trinity Site
– the place where Oppenheimer’s Manhattan project came to fruition
with the first atomic bomb test in 1945.
Over a range of desert mountains on the eastern horizon lies
the White Sands Missile Range, a huge military test site which provides the
Spaceport some services and airspace protections.
The iconic terminal hangar facility was designed by Norman
Foster with environmental concerns at the forefront and was built between 2009
and 2014, with the interior only completed in 2018 by Virgin Galactic. Looking
low and organic from a distance, the concrete and rusting steel walls have the
appearance of a bunker close up.
Virgin suffered endless delays, but some test flights moved
to the Spaceport in 2020 and Branson finally flew from here in July 2021 (with
memorable promo shots of him arriving by bike).
As of 2022, Virgin customer flights from the Spaceport have
yet to begin. Meanwhile, Up Aerospace have flown numerous paying passengers
from the Spaceport... in the form of cremains. Those customers include
astronaut Gordon Cooper.
Getting There
The closest town to the Spaceport is Truth or Consequences
(named after a 1950s TV show), about 75 miles north of Las Cruces on I-25. T or
C (as it’s known locally) has plenty of lodging, not least because
it’s a spa town.
There is a small Spaceport visitor centre in the centre of T
or C, but it may not always be open. Official tours start from the VC, but are
operated by 3rd parties which seem to change from time to time.
At the time of writing, if you want to get in to the site and
see inside the terminal building you still need to book on the tour, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t just turn up and take a look independently,
but if you do take bino’s!
Both routes to the Spaceport described below are fully paved
and easy in any car.
If you’re driving north up I-25 from Las Cruces, turn
off at Rincon onto minor road E073 that eventually turns into A013. It tracks
north through the low desert buttes past some trailheads. The right turn-off to
the Spaceport after about 28 miles is currently unsigned. The Spaceport is then
just a couple of miles further.
If you’re coming from the north, start in T or C by
following signs to the Elephant Butte dam along Highway 51. It’s a slow
and twisty drive out into the desert to Engle where you turn right onto A-13.
The road to the Spaceport is then a left turn after about 13 miles. There is a
short-cut from Highway 15 that avoids Engle, but it’s unmetalled.
Spin Launch as it appears from Highway A-013.
What to see
Spin Launch
Some 18 miles up E073/A013 from the Rincon turn-off you come
across the first structure on the Spaceport. It’s a weird looking thing
– a silver disk with a chimney way out in the shimmering desert on the
right. Stop and take a look with your binoculars, ‘cos currently this
object is unique. I say object because you won’t figure out what it is by
looking at it!
This bizarre structure is Spin Launch - a huge (it looks
small from the highway, but it’s not) centrifuge that literally hurls
rockets towards orbit up that ‘chimney’.
Parked SpaceShip Two
Just before you get to the Spaceport you’ll find a
parking area next to a parked Virgin SpaceShip Two. It’s probably a
mock-up, but looks convincing, is close by and great for Instagrammers.
Genesis Sculpture
At the end of the entrance road is a roundabout hosting a
giant rusting horseshoe sculpture by Otto Rigan, studded with glass
‘stars’, called “Genesis”. Another great spot for pics.
Terminal/Hanger
Just off the Genesis roundabout is the entrance checkpoint
with uniformed guards. They’ll turn you around here (very politely) if
you ask to go further. Beyond you’ll see the back of that terminal
building designed by Norman Foster and designed with a dramatic look like part
of an eye from above, but blend in with the landscape at ground level.
Again, you can get a good sense of it with binoculars. To get
closer you’ll need to do the tour – see below.
Elephant Butte Dam
Whichever way you go to the Spaceport, you’ll end up
passing this 300ft high concrete dam on the Rio Grande just outside T or C.
Built in 1916, it’s an impressive structure, but the once-expansive
reservoir behind it lies half empty in the ongoing drought.
There are overlooks to view the concrete dam wall and
spillways off Highway 51.
The tour starts at this door in the T or C visitor centre.
Things to do
Official Tour (starting from the T or C visitor centre)
I did this a few years ago and it might be slightly different
now (2022).
The tour starts in the VC in the centre of town on Foch St,
which has a gift shop and café. The centre has been rather
self-consciously outfitted with some Starship-interior themed décor.
You’re led out to a small bus by guides in Spaceport jump suites: pretty
cool, once the place is operational that is. Now it all seems a bit forced.
The bus takes you out to the Spaceport via Engle with some
generic (but still interesting) presentations about the history of the Jornada
Del Muerto and on to the entry checkpoint.
The tour takes you past the booths and barriers where they
turn private cars around.
There’s a quick stop at the visitor’s area in the
terminal building, accessed through a door at the back between those curving,
rusted steel walls. It has some displays and video loops and windows onto the
huge space of the hangar, a G-Shock simulator for the kids.
Then you get driven around the front of the terminal building
onto the expanse of cast-concrete apron and the runway where Virgin motherships
will take off and land every day... one day.
Perhaps the most interesting part of my tour was the
operations building, a thin dome with cutouts which looks like something from
Tatooine. It was actually made by shotcreting an inflatable former, but looks
very futuristic.
Inside the Ops building at the front, there are the air
traffic control consoles looking over the apron. At the back, another large
hangar contains the fire department and its equipment, including an awesome
Oshkosh fire tender. The firemen were interesting to talk to, not least because
some also served the WSMR and had undergone some very ‘special’
training.
Tourists entering the Operations building, home to the fire
department.
Summary
The best way to visit the Spaceport is to get organised in
advance and book on a tour. More likely, you’ll just rock up when
passing, in which case it’s still a worthwhile side trip to see the
Terminal Hangar building, the Genesis sculpture and the parked Spaceship Two.
One day, the Spaceport may become a real must-see
destination, bustling with tourists going to and from space, with daily
launches by Virgin and others. We’re not there yet though.