April 22, 2023 Spaceport America

What a great day!

As many of you know, Andy and I are fascinated with anything “SPACE”.  In 2013 we booked a tour of Spaceport America and had a blast – see the blog entry here:

http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2013/04/april-20-2013-spaceport-america.html

So when I was looking at planning our trip home, we were wondering if they are still doing tours.  They are, so we booked one!

There is only one tour operator allowed.  In 2013, it was Follow the Sun Tours.  They have since finished their contract and in 2018, Final Frontier Tours won the contract.  Great folks!

So we wanted to see what changes have happened in the last 10 years.  There was a lot!

I am not going to do the history in this blog.  Information and history can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceport_America

https://www.spaceportamerica.com/

We met early at the Truth or Consequences Visitor Center hopped on the tour van.  And 40 minutes later we were there:

This sculpture is called Genesis (meaning the beginning) and it is located right outside the gate:

 

A replica of the “Enterprise” – which is the craft that Sir Richard Branson took into space in 2021.

 

The woman was patterned after Richard Branson’s mother – Interesting!

 

 

 

As we left the area of the plane, a rocket took off.  It was in their Vertical Liftoff Area – cool.  (It took off so fast, I could only get the smoke! LOL!)

Here it is!  Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space!

Map of the area:

This is the Spaceport Operations Center.  In 2013, the building was just finished and there were no tenants.  Today, there are quite a few.  If you go to this site, you can see many of the tenants and operators:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceport_America#Current_tenants

 

The control room:

We are in the lobby:

My new job:

The Control Room:

Curtis is sitting at the desk.  He is the owner of Final Frontier Tours:

Chris is the gentleman next to Andy.  He is the tour guide:

This room and adjoining conference room were brand new 10 years ago.  It was neat to see it being used.

We were not allowed to be in the other areas because of security.  Many of the companies here are working on proprietary items  - satellite, communication satellites, various drones with different uses, etc..

We then went to the Fire Department area on the ground floor.

The ambulance:

One of the fire engines:

Notice the nozzle on the front:

This is their Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Truck.  It is present on every launch and had just come back from the Vertical Launch Area:

Notice the size of those tires.  According to our guide, this is the only paid fire company in the county.  They work 2 days on and 4 days off – 24/7/365.  WOW!

One of the firefighters came out to tell us about the company and answer any questions:

If you look close, there are two nozzles – one on the roof and one in front.  They can each put our 1000 gallons per minute – WOW!

The inside of the cab looks more complicated than the control room.

Look closely at the roof.  There are lights for the foam level and the water level.  This is so the outside fire fighters know how much is left in the tanks:

Different bunkers for the different companies and their projects:

 

I love the look of the Control Room Windows:

 

From there we headed over to Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.  In 2013, the inside was just getting ready to be finished – and in 2018, it was.

 

Notice the line to the runway:

It goes right thru the door to the building:

We traveled back to the other side.  This is actually a platform for speakers, bands, and telescopes for the dark skies.  It is not open to the public but used by the employees and their families of all the companies here.

Walking to the doorway – this is the way future astronauts will walk.  Notice that line – same as the one from the runway.

The view from that walkway – and the line continues straight down the road to the end of the property.

WOW!

On the third floor is a visitor center and part of a lounge.  There are various movies and displays.  It is just the beginning.

  

It is a replica of a G-force trainer.  It does work but not to the high speed needed to train folks.  We had a few people in our tour group try it out.  We did not..

 

Love this timeline:

  

  

  

  

BCE is Before Current Time (use to be BC).  CE is Current Time (use to be AD.)   (I will never understand why things need to be changed.)

Isn’t this awesome!

There was a very frosted window that looked over the hanger that contained Virgin Galactic planes/ships.  We could barely see thru it.   We were told the the only folks allowed in this and any of the other hangers on the property are those folks/employees of those specific companies.

Walking out and back to the van:

Beautiful scenery on the way to and from Spaceport America:

What a wonderful adventure.

The tours are run from Las Cruces on Fridays and Truth or Consequences on Saturdays unless there is some type of activity scheduled.  If you are ever in the area, please stop by and check it out.

On the way home, we stopped by the local Moose Lodge thinking they might be serving lunch but no..  So we had a drink and headed back to the RV where we hung out and enjoyed the weather.

Tomorrow may be a road trip so stay tuned and enjoy todayl.