SANTA FE — New Mexico lawmakers demanded more details Thursday about how the New Mexico Spaceport Authority plans to succeed now that the nearly quarter-billion-dollar Spaceport America stands empty and commercial fights by anchor tenant Virgin Galactic have been delayed indefinitely.
Members of a legislative finance oversight committee grilled spaceport executive director Christine Anderson after she handed them a presentation filled mostly with photographs.
Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, of Gallup, the committee’s vice-chairwoman, questioned the business plan and said the point of the meeting was to go over hard numbers and cover how the state should move forward.
“I’m disappointed. We need to have more than six pictures,” Lundstrom said as she thumbed through Anderson’s presentation.
There have been concerns about the spaceport’s future after Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft broke up over the California desert during a test flight.
Front Range Airport in Watkins has been seeking a spaceport designation since 2011.
