UK2000 Scenery has recently released their rendition of Spaceport America (9NM9) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, an FAA-licensed spaceport in New Mexico (United States) for vertical and horizontal launch space vehicles, launched in 2011 and deemed ready for operations in 2019. 

Owned and operated by the State of New Mexico, it is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport, focusing solely on commercial operations. It’s home to companies such as HAPSMobile and SpinLaunch, and a hub for Virgin Galactic, Up Aerospace, and Exos Aerospace. 

Its concept was first introduced in 1990 by Dr. Burton Lee, a Stanford University engineering lecturer. Responsible for writing the initial business and strategy plans, he secured 1.4 million dollars in seed funding, aided by Senator Pete Domenici. In 1992, they formed the Southwest Space Task Force, focusing on advancing New Mexico’s space industry  infrastructure and activity-wise. After lots of research, they chose a 70 square kilometer plot of state-owned land, near Las Cruces, to build the spaceport. In 2003, the Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Rick Homans presented the idea to Governor Bill Richardson, which then reached an agreement with Sir Richard Branson from Virgin to make New Mexico the headquarters for Virgin Galactic and consequently facilitate it for the state laws to be enacted and authorize the construction of the airport. 

The scenery was built with PBR textures, accurately replicating the real-life counterpart as it looks in 2022. The complete feature list follows down below:

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• Full detail Buildings
• Realistic Ground Markings
• Hi Res ground image
• Stunning Night Effects
• High detail Airport Vehicles
• Excellent Frame Rates
• Full set of signs
• Fencing
• Vegetation
• PBR Materials
• Internal Tower Details
• Internal Building details and Open Hangar

It’s available for purchase on FlightSim.to for $7.49 or on UK2000’s website for £7.49, requiring at least 77 MB of free disk space to install. 

Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!

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