Spaceport America, that slab of concrete somewhere outside of nowhere in southern New Mexico, is finally taking shape. What promises to be a hub for activity for anyone willing to pay $200,000 for a trip to the outer stretches of mankind is now open for business for the first time, sort of… For those who can’t wait for the ultimate first flight in about a year’s time or who are still gathering the pennies from under the couch to fund a trip, there is now a hard hat tour of the site where you can walk the runway and see the futuristic Virgin terminal that will ferry the world’s first civilian spacemenpersons into the ether. Watch videos and see the development in action as the final touches are put on this historic site. Just outside of Truth and Consequence, NM, you can see Earthly tractors working on the seedlings of intergalactic backpacking. It may not be space, but it’s a great road trip pit stop. Buy tickets here, and read more about the history of this travel destination of the future, after the jump….

The creation of Spaceport America was the result of a long term effort by many individuals to bring orbital launch and recovery operations and infrastructure to southern New Mexico. The initial spaceport concept was suggested in 1990 by Dr. Burton Lee (Stanford University), who proposed the creation of a land recovery facility for commercial and government orbital re-entry capsules. Lee authored the initial business and strategic plans, secured seed funding in the amount of US$1.4 million through a congressional earmark with the assistance of Senator Pete Domenici, and worked closely with Bernie McCune and Len Sugerman of the New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) to develop local support for the spaceport concept. The non-profit group Southwest Regional Space Task Force was created in 1992 by Dr. Ave Tombes, VP for Research and Economic Development at NMSU, in response to these successful efforts to obtain congressional and local support for the initiative.

The SRS was renamed Spaceport America in 2006 after Governor Bill Richardson and Secretary (Taxation and Revenue Department) Rick Homans adopted the spaceport initiative as a formal state of New Mexico economic development program, with Virgin Galactic slated to be the anchor tenant.

Spaceport America is the first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport in the world. The US$225 million venture was announced in mid-December 2005 in Santa Fe. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic plans to launch its first flight from the spaceport in 2011. Virgin has already collected its $200,000 per-person fee from the first 300 passengers. Once completed, Spaceport America is expected to be the venue for the annual X Prize Cup suborbital spaceflight competitions.

On December 31, 2008, Virgin Galactic signed a 20-year (240-month) lease on terminal facilities at the spaceport. Under the deal, Virgin Galactic will establish their world headquarters in New Mexico, and will pay US$1 million per year for the first five years, as well as payments on a tiered scale, based on the number of launches the company makes. The agreement is one of several conditions that are required to release state funding for the spaceport.

Construction of the first temporary launch facility at the spaceport site began on April 4, 2006. Early operations of the spaceport utilized this temporary infrastructure, some of it borrowed from neighboring White Sands Missile Range.

On April 3, 2007, voters in neighboring Doña Ana County approved a spaceport tax referendum, which passed by only 270 out of nearly 18,000 votes cast. Although collection of the tax was set to begin in January 2008, in order for collection of the tax to begin, a spaceport district had to be created, which required that the tax be approved and collected in at least two counties. Since only voters in Doña Ana county had approved the tax as of January 2008, collection of the tax was placed on hold.

In April 2008, voters in Sierra County, the actual home of the proposed spaceport, approved the collection of the Spaceport Tax in their county, thus finally enabling the creation of a spaceport tax district and freeing the disposition of over US$40 million in funding. Voters in a third county, Otero, voted in the November 2008 general election to reject the spaceport tax.

The first images of what the new Virgin Galactic spaceport terminal will look like were released in early September 2007. Designed by Foster + Partners, with construction advice being given by the URS Corporation, construction of the permanent facilities began on June 19, 2009, and is expected to be completed in 2010.

Gerald Martin Construction Management from Albuquerque was chosen in December 2008 to oversee construction of the spaceport. As of April 2009, the first of 13 bid packages for the spaceport was expected to be publicly released later that month and all 13 bid packages were scheduled to be released by June 2010. “The goal is to have [construction] completed in 17 months, by December 2010.”

A ground-breaking ceremony marking the beginning of construction was held on June 19, 2009. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson presided over the ceremonies which included historical actors and model rocket launches as well as a keynote speech by Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic. A pre-groundbreaking ceremony and free community breakfast was held at Ralph Edwards Park, which is on the banks of the Rio Grande River in downtown Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. Truth Or Consequences is the closest city to Spaceport America. A visitor center is planned in downtown Truth Or Consequences to provide shuttle bus services to the Spaceport. A detailed overview of the two-to-three year construction process was presented by the construction manager in November 2009.

As of February 2010, in mid-construction, the budgetary estimate for completion is $198 million.

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