The Spaceport America Visitor Experience Plan

Spaceport Vistor's Center Artist Rendering

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) Board of Directors reviewed plans today to design, build and program the Spaceport America Visitor Experience. The plan includes two off-site Welcome Centers located in the Village of Hatch in Doña Ana County and in Truth or Consequences in Sierra County, plus an on-site Visitors Center and specially developed behind-the-scenes tours as well as the chance to visit the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.
The Spaceport America Visitor Experience will be a professionally designed immersion into the excitement of the world's first purpose-built, commercial spaceport. Guests will be invited to explore the history, adventure, potential and inspiration of both the next space-age. Officials project attendance will grow to more than 200,000 visitors annually.

“The Spaceport Experience begins on-line long before a guest arrives at a Welcome Center” explained Bob Allen, IDEAS Chief Storytelling Officer. “There will be a robust virtual environment offering games, mobile apps and content so that especially our younger guests will already feel a part of the new space age by the time they come for a visit.” Kelly Pounds, IDEAS Vice President of Learning, noted that a lot of the content will have an educational focus. “We’ll have a special section for educators incorporating lesson plans, instructionally and designed interactives as well as a way for teachers to establish a dialogue with Spaceport for long-term collaboration.

“The Welcome Centers are the “mission briefing” areas where guests become part of the spaceport crew, get updated on current activity, get their credentials and catch a shuttle,” said Allen. The shuttles, designed as traveling theaters are an integral part of the experience. Because Spaceport America is a part of a rich portfolio of regional tourism, the Welcome Centers will also feature a “regional trailhead” where guests can learn about and plan multi-day itineraries. Once guests arrive at Spaceport America, they enter the onsite Visitors Center, which will feature hands-on access to space technology and artifacts from recent launches, the opportunity to create a payload and manifest it for flight, interactive and simulation based experiences and a theater. From the Visitors Center, guests can take a guided in-depth shuttle tour of the entire spaceport finishing at the entrance to the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space where they will get a chance to see in depth into the exciting reality of the world’s first passenger spaceship fleet. Allen noted that, “we are designing a learning-enriched, hands-on immersion into what space is going to be about for the next twenty years. We want a relationship with our guests that lasts generations.” Read rest of story here: News New Mexico

The Spaceport America Visitor Experience Plan