Editor,
A hundred years ago, the airplane was a curiosity and the idea of spending public money to create an airport was considered ludicrous. Today, cities are shaped by access to their airports, and control of the world depends on control of the air, both commercially and militarily. Increasingly, that depends on control of space.
Though it may seem a curiosity to most people today, our state having the first real commercial spaceport is one of the most progressive long-term activities we have going for us. It might look like a toy for rich adventure nuts at first, but just think how important Las Cruces might become when it is possible to send cargo or passengers from there to Tokyo in two hours, or to other places on Earth whose leaders were wise enough to begin the long commercial, technical and legal process of creating a spaceport.
Moreover, considering it costs $100 to buy enough gas to drive from Santa Fe to El Paso, and airline jets burn about 1,000 gallons a hour, our state leaders should get behind the governor and press for the objective of running the relatively green Rail Runner that entire distance daily. That would re-establish a north-south passenger link between the two major east-west rail lines across America and offer the first rapid-rail service to the spaceport.
I hear Japan is building 200 mph trains these days. Maybe Wal-Mart could get us one of those?
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James Nathan Post
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