SpaceX rocket could see first Spaceport America launch in December

LAS CRUCES – A SpaceX rocket could have its first test flight from Spaceport America by the end of the year, the CEO of the company said Wednesday during a yearly space conference in Las Cruces.
The launch could happen around late December, said Gwynne Shotwell, president and CEO of SpaceX, one of the biggest names in the emerging commercial space industry.
Until now, the vehicle — dubbed Grasshopper — has been in development at a facility in McGregor, Texas. But the company is limited in what it can do there.
At Spaceport America, the reusable rocket will fly to a much higher altitude, traveling at higher speeds, Shotwell said.
“You just can’t do that at that particular location in Texas,” she said.
In May, New Mexico officials announced a three-year agreement to lease land and facilities at Spaceport America to SpaceX for the project.
The Grasshopper rocket had its final Texas test flight earlier this month. Shotwell showed a video clip of that launch during a presentation to attendees at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. The footage drew a round of applause from the audience.
Typically, a launching rocket burns up in the atmosphere, but SpaceX’s 10-story rocket is being designed to launch, fly and then land near its launch pad.
Shotwell said the company selected New Mexico’s spaceport for launches partly “because the business environment was very good for us to come here.”
“They did a lot of work and were really accommodating to bring us here,” she said.
Also, Shotwell said, the “way the land is laid out and the population”
give “the ability to do all sorts of really extraordinary testing that you can’t really do in many other locations.”
Shotwell said about 25 of SpaceX’s more than 3,000 employees will be based at New Mexico, temporarily, for the start of the project’s work at the spaceport.
Asked by a reporter whether the launch would be open to the media, Shotwell she didn’t immediately know. But she said it would be noticeable, either way.
“You’ll see it,” she said emphatically.
The conference got underway in earnest Wednesday after a kick-off community luncheon a day earlier. Investors, executives from spaceflight companies, some technical experts and space enthusiasts all roamed the meeting rooms and halls of the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in southeast Las Cruces.
Clayton Mowry, president of Arianespace Inc., described the event as “hand-crafted.” He said it’s a “different kind of conference in a lot of ways.”
“There’s lots of things I can learn here,” said Mowry, whose company has been in the launch business for about 30 years.
Mowry said Arianespace launches mainly communications satellites.
The federal shutdown kept at least two scheduled speakers from the lineup Tuesday. Bill Gertsenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human explorations and operations, didn’t present, as previously was planned. Organizers had to adjust the schedule.
Symposium Chair Patricia Hynes said about 230 people attended Tuesday. In a news release, Hynes said “attendance numbers this year have not been significantly affected by the shutdown,” evidence that the commercial space industry is becoming more robust and not relying only on the government for support.
Alan Hale of Cloudcroft, co-discoverer of Hale-Bopp Comet, was among attendees. He said he was involved in a group including the late aerospace advocate Len Sugerman of Las Cruces that first proposed the idea of a spaceport for southern New Mexico. ISPCS attracts space businesses to visit New Mexico, which is beneficial, he said.
“We’re at the center of a new industry,” he said.
By: Diana Alba Soular (Las Cruces Sun-News)
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