New Mexico is hoping the forgotten stretch of cattle ranches and mountain ranges will become a gateway to space.
Gov. Bill Richardson and others are to break ground Friday on construction of a terminal and hangar facility at the world's first commercial spaceport built with the idea of launching private citizens into space for profit.
Some 250 people are lining up to pay $200,000 each to take the trip as early as next year.
It's called Spaceport America.
Spacecraft will take flight attached to an airplane, then break free and rocket 62 miles into space before returning. The flights will last about two hours and include five minutes of weightlessness.
The spaceport will operate like an airport, offering a location where aerospace companies can lease building and hangar space.
Virgin Galactic will be the spaceport's anchor tenant.
Competitors such as XCOR Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace are developing spacecraft for $95,000 flights. And as flights become more routine, costs should drop.
Similar spaceport ventures are proposed in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and elsewhere.
State officials say the site will provide 500 construction jobs over the next four years and spark economic development, education and tourism for generations.
"It will bring jobs, give our students the opportunity to have careers in math and science here in New Mexico and create tourism and other long-term economic activity," Landeene said.
Virgin Galactic and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan are building a craft that will take passengers on the thrill ride from New Mexico's spaceport. In 2004, Rutan's SpaceShipOne became the first privately built manned craft to reach space.
SpaceShipTwo, under development at Rutan's facility in California, will be carried aloft by a mothership called White Knight Two, unveiled last summer. The smaller craft will separate and rocket into space.
The terminal and hangar should be ready for tenants in December 2010.
