Whether or not Spaceport America ever becomes the first Earthly landing strip for interstellar visitors is still up for grabs (some would argue that title goes to Roswell, NM, 200 miles to the east). For now the fledgling base is content to host "domestic" flights only, with space tourism runs planned to start as early as next year. Here's what the prototype looks like, and a snippet from the KRQE article discusses the possibility of military testing on the way:

For Lockheed Martin Spaceport America in southeastern Sierra County offers the perfect venue for research like this.

"To be able to have a spaceport located down here where we can come in and almost just drop right in, do our thing and then be able to go back home and review the data and then be able to schedule and come back, that is very key for us," Simpson said.

To provide the actual launch services for this vehicle the new firm hired the company that's already launching rockets at Spaceport America: UP Aerospace.

UP Aerospace knows the state hopes for big bucks from a space tourism industry, however...

"Space tourism is great, but if it could be broader and include aerospace companies and military operations and things like that, then it will be much more stable as a spaceport moving forward," Jerry Larson of UP Aerospace said. "It won't be so reliant on just one tenant."

Photos: KRQE Albuquerque

We were skeptical going in, but I have to say that Harrison doesn't look bad at all, and we didn't even mind the jokes about him getting creaky with age. Ray Winstone looks decent as fill-in material for Sallah/Marcus Brody, and Cate Blanchett's Russimatrix look is going to inspire some costumes come Halloween. We just hope the final film isn't laden with CGI, and there are a couple of shots in this that look a bit too close to that for comfort. After all, this does have the Lucasfilm name on it, so you know George will try to cram in as much CGI as possible.