The New Mexico spaceport site is 27 square miles of open, level range land 45 miles north of Las Cruces and 30 miles east of Truth or Consequences. This location was favored for its low population density(!), uncongested airspace, and high elevation.Inaugural flight: UP (the letters are pronounced "up" as in the opposite of down) Aerospace, Inc. set Aug. 14 as the official date for its Spaceloft XL rocket, which will carry 50 private and educational experiments and payloads including 40 experiments created by high school students.
The 20-foot-tall, single-stage, 800-pound SpaceLoft XL solid-fuel rocket will accelerate to five times the speed of sound, or nearly 3,400 mph, in 13.5 seconds.
They must not be kidding about this.
Photo: New Mexico Spaceport Authority. Really.
