Governor Susana Martinez signs spaceport bill

Months ago the future of New Mexico’s spaceport hung in the air as its only tenant threatened to leave.

As of Tuesday, Spaceport America’s future is bright as Gov. Susana Martinez officially signed the space travel liability bill into law.

Martinez traveled to the spaceport to sign the bill on the property Tuesday afternoon. There was a lot of excitement among spaceport and Virgin Galactic officials who hope the new law will help bring success to the spaceport.

Spaceport officials fought for years to get this bill passed. The bill extends liability protection to spacecraft parts and manufacturing supply chains.

Virgin Galactic, the spaceport’s only tenant, seemed pleased with the new law. It’s especially important to Virgin Galactic officials because the corporation also manufactures parts for its spacecraft.

“We don’t want to be alone here at the spaceport. We’re glad to be first, leading in that respect. We are very excited,” said Bruce Jackson, Vice President of Virgin Galactic.

Now that officials have overcome that hurdle, New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson is looking to the future.

Jackson said the company is well on its way to launching commercial flights into space.

“We’re getting real close. We think everyone will be excited to see that. It’s real important to us because we want to get as quickly as possible to commercial launches but it needs to be safe, absolutely safe,” Jackson told ABC-7.

Anderson said she has already received calls from possible tenants and investors.