UPHAM, N.M., July 6 (UPI) -- The 10,000-foot concrete runway at Spaceport America in Upham, N.M., is finished and construction is about 60 percent complete, a Spaceport official said.
Spaceport Executive Director Rick Homans said workers are finishing turnarounds on both ends of the runway and the apron around the terminal-hangar facility, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported Monday.
Homans said crews also started adding steel trusses to the terminal-hangar facility to create a platform for the roof at the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
The director said the $32.5 million site's 1.3 million-gallon water tank, the wastewater treatment plant and the fuel storage facility also are finished.
Ground was broken June 19, 2009.
"The bottom line is, by mid-December, we expect to have a substantially complete spaceport and be working on the final finishes for many aspects of the facility," he said.
Homans said the next step is advancing Spaceport America from a construction project to an operational spaceport. He said the agency is drafting bid documents for contractors to run the facility.
"Building a spaceport is one thing, running a spaceport is something completely different," he said.
