Behind a security gate in southern New Mexico lies a commercial space-launch station: Spaceport America. For $250,000 a ticket, any aspiring Major Tom may soon be able to spend a few minutes among the stars.
In the meantime, college students from around the world travel here to compete in the annual Spaceport America Cup, blasting off rockets that they’ve spent tens of thousands of hours building. The rockets often crash.
I asked them why they do it.