Texas, Where Spaceports Are Real

Ouch. Last week Keith Cowing, proprietor of NASA Watch, tweeted that “the only actual business operating” at Spaceport America “is the gift shop.”

Harsh, but true. Meanwhile, just over the border in Texas, Blue Origin has conducted the fourth test flight of its New Shepard vehicle. The company, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, has a launch facility in Van Horn.

Also in Texas, the Midland International Air & Space Port got some bad news when XCOR Aerospace recently announced some layoffs. But the facility’s future still looks bright, with the Midland Development Corporation talking to several “large players” with “big, strong balance sheets” about coming to the facility.

Finally, SpaceX’s Texas spaceport at Boca Chica Beach is under construction. In April, The Brownsville Herald reported that Elon Musk’s company expects “to be ready for its first launch from the site in 2018.”

Isn’t it time to for New Mexico’s “leaders” to admit defeat, and unload Spaceport America?