Spaceport America Launch of Proprietary Flight Test Vehicle (Updated)

New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) officials announced today that a proprietary test flight of a Lockheed Martin vehicle took place on Saturday, October 10.

Little in the way of detail was immediately available.

"The brief test flight was a non-public, unpublished event at the request of Lockheed Martin, who is testing proprietary advanced launch technologies," according to a NMSA press statement.

The test flight vehicle was launched for Lockheed Martin by UP Aerospace from Spaceport America.

"This is our third launch for Lockheed Martin from Spaceport America, which is proving to be an ideal location for supplying low-cost, fast-turnaround launch operations," explained Jerry Larson, President of UP Aerospace.

"The suborbital launch performed a spectacular planned trajectory in the morning sunlight and landed right on target in our planned landing zone at the spaceport," noted Larson. "Our recovery crew was dispatched within 20 minutes after touchdown and we were able to return the vehicle to our customer for evaluation that same morning."

Larson observed that the flight marked a very short launch campaign. "We spent just a few days setting up and testing and then launched during our first window. Our smoothest launch campaign yet," he told this Coalition reporter.

Larson added that the launch also marked the first time Spaceport America worked with neighboring White Sands Missile Range to call up the restricted airspace as opposed to Notice to Airmen (NOTAM's) that are usually work through the FAA.

"This method of working the airspace through WSMR turned out to be quicker, easier and flexible and will be our method of choice for all future test flights. One more tangible benefit of working out here at Spaceport America, as they continue to improve our launch effectiveness and the satisfaction of our customers," Larson said.

Business is growing at Spaceport America, according to Larson.

"This launch marked the third we have done this year so far, the most launches we've conducted in any year. This test flight also marked our 7th launch from Spaceport America. There is a growing interested in more launches coming from the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin and others for next year that could potentially more than double the number of missions in a year, Larson concluded.

Spaceport America is billed as the world's first purpose-built commercial space facility.

Spaceport America has been working closely with leading aerospace firms such as
Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, UP Aerospace, and Armadillo Aerospace to develop commercial spaceflight.

Spaceport America's 10,000-foot long runway is now under construction.

Once completed, that runway would handle future commercial suborbital flights for paying customers aboard Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo launch system. That runway is expected to be complete by late summer 2010 with Spaceport America's Terminal Hangar Facility projected to be complete by early 2011.

By Leonard David