Las Cruces Community Radio 101.5 FM
  • Home
  • Donate
  • Listen
  • Schedule
    • Programs
  • Archives
  • Underwrite
  • Merch
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Walt Rubel Commentary: Spaceport business plan has changed since 2005

5/26/2021

 
Former Gov. Bill Richardson loved to be around Hollywood stars, and would include them in his press conferences whenever possible.  And so, when it came time to announce the deal between the state and Virgin Galactic that would lead to the construction of Spaceport America, the most famous person at the press conference was not the governor or Richard Branson, the publicity-loving owner of Virgin Galactic.

It was actress Victoria Principal (this was 2005, when her role as Pamela Ewing on Dallas was still fresh in our minds). Principal was a paying custom who expected to be on the first launch into suborbital space, slated optimistically for 2008.

“New Mexico will be the launch pad for America’s second space age, centered on private-sector innovations and personal space flight,” then-Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

“This investment in economic development and high-wage jobs will create a new industry that will transform the economy in southern New Mexico,” Richardson predicted.

The business model was pretty simple. Instead of focusing on research and development, Virgin Galactic would sell tickets to Victoria Principal and her rich and famous friends for a blast into suborbital space.

The business plan for Las Cruces and southern New Mexico was to build lots of luxury hotel rooms and other high-dollar attractions designed to separate wealthy tourists from the vacation money burning holes in their pockets.

It took us almost a decade just to get a decent road built to the spaceport. The year 2008 came and went, with Branson continuing to make overly optimistic predictions about when the first launches would begin. And then 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Until October, 2014, when co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed during a test flight. Then Branson stopped making predictions.

On Saturday, the spacecraft VSS Unity reached an altitude of 55.45 miles, within seven miles of leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, before gliding safely back to Spaceport America. It was the third successful test flight for the spacecraft, but the first to take off and land in New Mexico.

For the first time since the deal between Branson and Richardson was announced in 2005, it is now clear that commercial suborbital space tourism is more than just a theory.   

There are a few more test flights planned, one with Branson aboard. But the start of space tourism launches from Spaceport America this year seems like a real possibility.

“We’re going where no one has gone before,” Branson said in 2005. “There’s no model to follow, nothing to copy.”

That’s still true, though he now has new competition from Jeff Bezos. It’s not just the technology that’s never been done before, that’s also true for the business model. The number of people signed up thus far is impressive, but there would seem to be a fairly limited pool of customers willing and able to pay $250,000 a ticket.

And, aside from some special rooms at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces,  most of the grand plans to take full economic advantage of the wealthy visitors who will soon be arriving seem to have been long forgotten.

When the deal was announced in 2005, space tourism was the only vision for the spaceport. Now, that vision has been expanded. I’m still not sure that space tourism will be viable, but I have no doubt as to the future growth of the private space industry.



Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com
Listen to the audio version.

Comments are closed.

    Shows

    All
    All About Books
    Animal Affairs
    Cafe Con Leche
    Chicken Pot Pie
    Commentaries
    Coronavirus Update
    Delving In
    Earth Matters
    Eye On Government
    Just Community
    La Politica New Mexico
    Live From The Market
    Live True
    Shades Of The Blues
    Speak Up Las Cruces
    Special Broadcasts
    Take On Faith
    The Sunday Show
    Think Again
    This Week In Las Cruces

    Music Shows

    Click here to find archived episodes of many of our music programs on Mixcloud.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly