Spaceport America (Also known as Southwest Regional Spaceport) is located on 27 square-miles of state-owned desert near Upham, New Mexico, 45 miles north of Las Cruces, and 30 miles east of Truth or Consequences.

It was founded in 1990 by Dr. Burton Lee and Bernie McCune. Lee proposed the original spaceport concept, authored the initial business and strategic plans, and secured seed funding in the amount of $1.4 million through a congressional earmark with the assistance of Sen. Pete Domenici. The non-profit group called the Southwest Regional Spaceport Taskforce was created in 1992 by Dr. Ave Tombes, VP for Research and Economic Development at NMSU, in response to Lee's success in obtaining congressional support for the initiative.

Other individuals who have played a key role in the development of the spaceport since 1992 include Lonnie Sumpter (Executive Director, New Mexico Spaceport Authority), Dr. Bill Gutman (NMSU/PSL), Hanson Scott, Lou Gomez, Len Sugerman and Margaret Gallaher Lee.

It is the first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport in the United States of America. The $225 million venture was announced in mid-December 2005 in Santa Fe. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to launch its first flight from the spaceport in 2009. Virgin has already collected its $200,000 per-person fee from the first 100 passengers.

It was reported on April 4,2006 that construction at the spaceport site had started, with the first unmanned launches expected in fall 2006. The Connecticut firm of UP Aerospace, with their SpaceLoft series of suborbital sounding rockets are expected to be among the first users of the new facilities.

Once completed, Spaceport America is expected to be the venue for the annual X Prize Cup suborbital spaceflight competitions.

The first launch from the site was the unsuccessful maiden flight of the SpaceLoft XL rocket, on September 25, 2006 The Spaceloft rocket veered off course before it entered space.