7.18.2006
Announcing Spaceport America
This Sierra County cow may count herself among the few individuals who are not quite thrilled about New Mexico's grand spaceport vision. (Well, I mean she doesn't look thrilled. But then, who really knows with cows? This bovine may in fact secretly harbor her own space travel dreams....)Never mind the space cow, New Mexico Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Rick Homans flew all the way to the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England to announce the official name of New Mexico's spaceport: Spaceport America. Indeed. And check out the hot new website. (Well? Where do you think I found the cow?) And of course, Space Law Probe already links to the Spaceport's blog, Pulsar, hosted by Tricia Ware.
The land of enchantment certainly has come a long way since Robert Goddard moved to Roswell to build rockets.
In fact, here, from Spaceport America, are "Top 10 Moments in New Mexico Space History" (which Dick Stafford also noted in a post yesterday):
10. 1929 - Ridiculed for his unconventional ideas, Robert Goddard relocates from New England to Roswell, New Mexico, to build his experimental rockets in peace. He would become known as the Father of Modern Rocketry.
9. 1946 - Wernher von Braun launches the V-2 rocket from the then-named White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico.
8. 1961 - HAM, a chimpanzee named for Holloman Aero Medical Laboratory in Alamogordo, is the first chimp in space.
7. 1979 - White Sands Missile Range is named a landing site for NASA’s Space Shuttle. NASA missions continue through the eighties and nineties.
6. 2004 - New Mexico becomes the host for the X Prize Cup annual spaceflight exhibition.
5. September 2005 - Governor Richardson announces UP Aerospace will conduct the first launch from New Mexico’s spaceport.
4. October 2005 - New Mexico hosts the first annual X Prize Cup in Las Cruces. As many as 20,000 people attend.
3. December 2005 - Governor Richardson and Sir Richard Branson announce that Virgin Galactic will make New Mexico its world headquarters.
2. January 2006 - Governor Richardson and the New Mexico legislature enact laws providing for the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
1. July 2006 - The Spaceport America brand is unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow.
Much more ahead. (Mooove over, Bessy.)
