New Mexico is set to inaugurate its commercial spaceport (even though construction of its facilities has yet to begin) with a launch Monday of a suborbital sounding rocket by UP Aerospace. The launch of the SpaceLoft XL rocket is scheduled for 7:30 am local time (9:30 am EDT, 1330 GMT). The nearest public viewing site will be about 11 kilometers away. Also, hunters are advised to stay clear of the launch area, for the safety of the rocket as much as for the safety of the hunters.

Anousheh Ansari’s blog now has its first post from space, in the form of an email from Ansari to Peter Diamandis. (Some might quibble whether that counts as blogging from space, but that’s a technicality that’s lost on most people.) “I cannot keep my eyes off the windows,” she writes. “Earth is magnificent and peaceful from up here. You don’t see any of those awful things you hear on the news, from up here.”

Tickets are now available for the X Prize Cup in New Mexico next month. (Well, maybe not available at the moment I write this Thursday morning: the X Prize cup server was down.) Tickets cost $10/day for adults and $5/day for children and students; two-day passes cost $15 for adults and $10 for students and kids (children under 3 get in free). Active military personnel get free passes with ID, and VIPs (or people who want to spend like VIPs) can buy a $250 two-day pass that includes gourmet food and an open bar.

The press release, not surprisingly, plays up the Centennial Challenges events being held there, including the Lunar Lander Challenge and Space Elevator Games. Also on tap: high-powered rocket launches, “Earth shaking” static engine firings (hopefully not as explosive as last year’s Starchaser engine test), T-38 flybys, and a variety of terrestrial activities.