Just a couple of months after becoming the executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, Rick Homans announced today that he is resigning to take a job in the private sector. Homans, who stepped down as the Secretary of Economic Development for the state to take over as head of the authority after the untimely passing of former executive director Lonnie Sumpter earlier this year, had planned all along to be only an interim head of the authority. However, he said he had an opportunity to take a job with an unidentified “environmental technology company” that plans to set up its headquarters in New Mexico, an opportunity that “arose imperatively”. Homans had been a major supporter of what has become Spaceport America since shortly after becoming the state economic development secretary in 2003, working with Gov. Bill Richardson and other state officials to lure Virgin Galactic, the X Prize Cup, and other space ventures to the state. A replacement for Homans has not been announced.