Question of the Day - 05 May 2025

The Las Vegas Spaceport is completely separate from the proposed Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport (SNSA), previously known as Ivanpah Valley Airport; they're about an hour away from each other. 

The Spaceport is a commercial project located on 240 acres roughly 50 miles west of Las Vegas near Pahrump. Spearheaded by a local commercial real estate developer, it aims to establish the Las Vegas Executive Airport, for which construction permits were approved by Clark County in May of last year. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also granted initial approval for aircraft operations. The airstrip will come with a passenger terminal and support private jets for events like Formula 1, the Super Bowl, major international soccer matches, and Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift comings and goings. 

Beyond the airport, the Spaceport is proposed to be a hub for space tourism, education, and aerospace innovation. The project is seeking further FAA licensing to operate as a horizontal launch facility for spaceplanes, with an expected approval timeline of about two years.

As for space tourism, the Spaceport plans to offer experiences like zero-gravity parabolic flights ($9,000), fighter jet rides simulating high-G forces ($6,500), and eventual spaceplane flights to space hotels or orbital destinations, with projected tickets at $125,000 per passenger (round-trip, of course). The goal is to conduct 15 flights per month, each carrying six passengers.

Also planned for the terrestrial Spaceport are a 200-room casino-resort, restaurant, rooftop observation deck, and a heliport for quick transport to from the Strip (15 minutes by helicopter). There's also the possibility of an air-taxi service to Allegiant Stadium via a helipad called Raiders Station.

A 40,000-square-foot two-year post-high-school Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) university is also in the works. This would train students in aerospace engineering, welding, and other industry-relevant skills. The curriculum would be tailored to meet the needs of aerospace companies, with on-campus housing and advanced flight simulators.

The project is in its earliest stages. The airstrip is approved and construction expected to begin sometime this year. The FAA licensing process for spaceplane operations is ongoing, with full spaceport functionality projected to take 5–10 years.

If it happens, and that's a big if, given the initial estimated investment of $310 milion, which sounds low to us, the "space economy" is aimed at attracting aerospace companies and generating high-paying jobs. On the plus side, a launch pad to space tourism is, it seems to us, a natural extension of what Las Vegas does best -- perhaps as long as the Zero-G Casino can figure out how to keep people from floating away from the slots and crap tables.