It really is all about the marketing. From the ABQ Trib article:
The same day the shuttle landed safely at Cape Canaveral, Fla., a team of New Mexican economic developers was in Hampshire, England, announcing the freshly monikered Spaceport America project in New Mexico.
Gene Grant, the ABQ Trib columnist continues:
Someone in Santa Fe has his or her space helmet strapped on with that new name. Leaving the original Southwest Regional Spaceport name behind is a stroke of small genius. Perfect. New Mexico figured something out on that, because names being what they are, this one was destined to be stuck on the launchpad.
That word "regional" was the problem, because it denotes there are other such spaceports, and the simple truth is, in order for this spaceport to get planted correctly, there has to be an overwhelming sense of ownership on it.
This is no time to share.
Making space "cool" is what this is all about and a Pirates of the White Sands attitude surely helps (tip of the hat to Grant for that phrase - - I hope it sticks):
Calling itself the nation's spaceport from the go is cheeky by half, and I love it. That's the attitude I'm looking for.
Why not? The pitch is clear for the moment. And who knows how long that moment is going to be. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is already on the record as being incredibly annoyed at getting beaten to the punch on the spaceport business, given that Florida has infrastructure in place. But what it has vs. what we have actually favors us.
Florida has a creaky, bloated, politicized infrastructure that is in the business of continuing a mission laid in its lap more than 40 years ago. We have a bunch of sand, new millennium partners and an attitude.
The secret sauce here is the international flavor already in place for Spaceport America with the Richard Branson/Virgin Galactic deal. The old boys kicking around Cape Canaveral will always be going it alone in Cold War-era style. It will be their undoing eventually, not any time soon by any means, but it's coming.
To succeed, America's Spaceport will need eyeballs and footfalls both from tourists flocking to Las Cruces to see the shows and from folks watching on cable TV, or better yet watching streaming video on the internet. Plentiful footfalls can be transformed into hotel rooms booked, restaurants filled and gasoline and other products purchased along with global exposure of everything else New Mexico has to offer.
Staying on message means pushing young and exciting. These events and groups are young and exciting:
X Prize lunar lander challenge
These programs have already committed to New Mexico but there are more ideas. For one, Armadillo Aerospace is working on something called a "vertical drag racer" and that lets us imagine a handful of rocket powered jalopies racing each other to 62 miles (or 100 kilometers if you count in French). Deploy TV cameras from chase planes and high altitude balloons and it can be like NASCAR or the Indy 500.
For our older more stodgy space advocates, consider this an experiment for learning whether space travel can be made exciting. I recall reading a quip somewhere that only NASA has the expertise needed to make landing on the Moon boring.
Perhaps this experiment will fall, but perhaps not and if the America's Spaceport experience touches a few young lives and generates excitement about space, well good. To help attract young people, I have a suggestion that might help publicize Spaceport America: create a video game (PlayStation, X-Box, PC or whatever) that includes all of the events (scheduled and potential) that may end up finding a home in New Mexico.
Let 'em play rocket racer or vertical drag racer at home; let 'em simulate lunar landers competing at the X Prize Cup and then there will be a better chance that people will watch on TV, and then there is a better chance they will come to Las Cruces, in person. Eyeballs and footfalls is what this is all about for New Mexico and Spaceport America.
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