Economic Progress

New Mexico Spent $212 Million On A "Spaceport"

May 31, 2014

It has been nine years since New Mexico taxpayers sank $212 million into a “spaceport” for billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space flights and not a single flight has left the ground. Although Branson is confident a flight will take place later this year, the long-term profitability of the flights has been called into question. With tickets costing above $200,000 there are serious questions about whether New Mexico taxpayers will ever see a return on their “investment.”

“In the absence of Galactic operations, the only passengers who have lifted off from Spaceport America are the cremated remains of people whose families have paid UP Aerospace to launch their dead loved ones on a final joyride.”

A version of this blog originally appeared on CronyChronicles.org, a project of Stand Together Trust. The Institute republished it here on September 17, 2015.