New Mexico Spaceport Authority
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The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is a non-governmental panel, appointed by the governor of New Mexico, whose members represent the public sector in the development and construction of Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
Two-thirds of the $212 million used to build the spaceport was paid by the State of New Mexico with the rest provided by bonds backed by Doña Ana County and Sierra County,[1] which will be partially repaid by locally generated gross receipts tax revenues. NMSA operates the spaceport, whose anchor tenant is Virgin Galactic, a component of the Virgin Group of global companies operated by Sir Richard Branson.[2]
In February 2011, the governor of New Mexico appointed Christine Anderson as executive director of the Spaceport Authority.[3] In April 2011, the Authority announced that its budget for fiscal year 2012 had been reduced by 57 percent.[4] In March 2012, the Authority announced that it had completed what it called Phase I of the Virgin/Spaceport America construction project. This Phase I included a 10,000-foot runway, a terminal hangar, and a domed Space Operations Center. Phase II, the visitor center and actual liftoff pad, remained unbuilt as of March 2012.[2]