An article earlier this week in the Alamogordo (N.M.) Daily News indicated that Otero County’s economic development board wanted nearly Holloman Air Force Base designated a spaceport. Huh? With Spaceport America just on the other side of the mountains from Holloman, why promote developing another spaceport?
It turns out there was some confusion on the part of the Daily News, which has since corrected the original article. In a followup piece, county officials tell the paper that what they’re interested in is a piece of the annual X Prize Cup activities. County officials said that it’s possible that the Cup might “unite with the Holloman Air Force Base Air Show on a temporary basis”, with the implication that the Cup might move from Las Cruces International Airport to the air force base before finally going to Spaceport America. An X Prize Foundation press release Thursday said that the organization is considering an expansion of the X Prize Cup that could include activities at Holloman or White Sands, although keeping the event based primarily in Las Cruces.