Ceremony Marks New Mexico Spaceport Launch

Richardson said the New Mexico site — about 45 miles north of Las Cruces — is ahead, largely because of a partnership with Virgin Galactic, a British company that plans to take the tourists into space.

Virgin Galactic officials said Friday that 300 customers have made down payments to get launched into space. The company aims to begin taking tourists into space by December 2010.

New Mexico is making a $200 million investment in the project. Virgin Galactic, owned by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, is investing $250 million and will be the spaceport's anchor tenant.

Lina Borozdina-Birch, who attended Friday's ceremony, is a 40-year-old chemist from San Diego and among the first to sign up for a flight.

"I'm so excited. Until this point in my life, it's been like a science fiction novel," she said of the prospect of going to space.

Her dream began as she was growing up in the Soviet Union at the time when the country was locked in a space race with the United States. Borozdina-Birch said she mortgaged her home to afford the $200,000 ticket.