by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Officials from New Mexico, the federal government and Virgin Galactic met last week behind closed doors for the state’s first Space Valley Summit to form a “collaboratory” to promote Spaceport America and the state’s aerospace economy.

The one group not invited: taxpayers who have forked over about $250 million to build the spaceport where Virgin Galactic is the anchor tenant. As the Las Cruces Sun News dryly noted

Minutes after [Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham] exhorted the summit to “make sure every New Mexican … knows exactly what is happening here,” all reporters were asked to leave. 

LAS CRUCES, NM (NMSGC PR) — The New Mexico Space Grant Consortium today successfully completed its fifth Student Launch Program launch event from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, N.M. More than 60 NASA Summer of Innovation students and teachers watched as four primary experiments were propelled into space aboard a SpaceLoft-5 rocket, provided by UP Aerospace. Additional university experiments and other items were also on the rocket, which reached an altitude of approximately 74 miles and experienced 17 Gs of force at a speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound at approximately 3,800 mph).

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NMSGC PR – UPHAM, NM – Friday’s successful launch of the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket for the New Mexico Education Launch was greeted by cheers from students New Mexico, Arizona and Texas as their payload experiments reached space, bringing a successful conclusion to months of work and preparation.

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NMSGC PR — LAS CRUCES, NM – The New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC) has announced the Third Annual Education Launch will be available to view live online on Friday, May 20. This launch and the yearlong education plan to build experiments is sponsored by NASA through the Summer of Innovation Program. Of the 27 experiments on board, three high school experiments and one community college experiment are supported by the New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax revenue, which is dedicated to supporting spaceport-related education. The UP Aerospace SL-5 rocket is scheduled to launch at 7 a.m. MDT. Pre-launch and launch coverage can be viewed at www.KRQE.com or https://www.launchnm.com/

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UP Aerospace Spaceloft XL rocket lifts off from Spaceport America in New Mexico on May 2, 2009.

NMSGC PR – UPHAM, NM – After analyzing the results of a test on the parachute system for the SL-5 rocket, New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC) Director Dr. Patricia Hynes has rescheduled the SL-5 Student Launch to Friday, May 20, 2011 Engineers from UP Aerospace conferred with NMSGC launch officials and it was determined that, even though the drop test was successful, a portion of flight hardware became entangled during recovery and was damaged. Safe return of the students’ 27 onboard experiments is a requirement of this launch, so in order to meet the mission specifications, the launch has been rescheduled to May 20 at Spaceport America.

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The schedule for The Space Show this week.

 

UP Aerospace Spaceloft XL rocket lifts off from Spaceport America in New Mexico on May 2, 2009.

Leonard David at Space.com reports that an incorrect flight parameter caused UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft XL rocket to fail during a launch from Spaceport America on Saturday:

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SPACEPORT AMERICA PRESS RELEASE

Today’s successful launch of the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket for the SL-3 Education launch is another successful step in developing the world’s first commercial spaceport. Spaceport America and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium created history with this first annual Education Launch that provided New Mexico students the opportunity to design and launch scientific experiments into space.

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An artist's conception of a Virgin Galactic flight above Spaceport America in New Mexico

Saturday launch will help make Spaceport ‘real,’ officials say
New Mexico Independent

More than 350 people have signed up to attend Saturday’s educational launch from Spaceport America. Officials say that’s evidence that, as the project progresses from a proposal to reality, excitement is building.

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PRESS RELEASE

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is planning to webcast Saturday’s SL-3 Education launch live on Saturday, May 2. The UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket is scheduled for launch at 8 a.m. MDT, and can be seen live on the Internet at the Spaceport America website (www.SpaceportAmerica.com).

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