The latest from Spaceport America (and its dubious $240 million “economic impact)

In one of the least surprising recent developments at Spaceport America the deadline for Virgin Galactic’s new spacecraft (the ones that will theoretically make the company profitable) were supposed to be ready by 2025. According to the Albuquerque Journal, that date has slipped and now the company claims it will resume commercial flights at the Spaceport again in the next 12 to 18 months. Virgin Galactic officials said last week that commercial flights are expected to resume in fall 2026. We aren’t holding our breath.

In other Spaceport news the Arrowhead Center at NMSU recently released a report that purports to show the “economic impact” of the taxpayer funded Spaceport. The report claims an “economic impact” of $240 million for the facility in 2024. Admittedly we don’t put much stock in poorly-defined terms like “economic impact.” Spending, tax revenues, and direct jobs created are tangible and at least can be clearly measured. “Economic impact” is hard to define clearly and impossible to measure accurately, especially when you consider alternative opportunities.

We reached out to an author of the Arrowhead Center report to see if they’d come on our Tipping Point NM podcast to discuss the report but have not heard back from them.

The following takedown of “economic impact” reports was put together by our friends at the John Locke Foundation: