Graffiti on the Walls of Valhalla

AP - After wind delay, private company launches rocket

FORT STOCKTON -- After a 3 1/2-hour wind delay, a private company successfully launched a 14-foot rocket Saturday night from a remote site on arid West Texas ranchland that organizers are calling Texas' newest spaceport. The 50 or so people gathered for the launch cheered when the slim white rocket blasted off, then roared again when it came down five minutes later with a parachute. The rocket traveled about 20,000 feet in 34 seconds and came down several miles away.

"The main purpose of this launch was to open the spaceport," said John Powell, president of JP Aerospace, a California company that hopes to make space more affordable and accessible. "With all the clearances and regulations that we've already accomplished, pushing the button today was really very exciting."

The launch site -- on treeless, scrubby ranchland about 9 miles south of Fort Stockton -- is a far cry from NASA. About two dozen Angus cattle watched Saturday's proceedings from a few hundred yards away, and a GMC van served as mission control. The launch was delayed because of high winds, which also forced the group to send only one experimental balloon into the sky. There were plans to send three.

The prospect of more launches has West Texas organizers excited.

"We're getting our foot in the door of new industry," said Doug May of the Pecos County/West Texas Spaceport Development Corp. "We're trying to diversify. We've got alternative energy with wind power, we've got shrimp farming, and now we've got space."

Rancher Gene Lyda said he is letting the company use the land at no cost. JP Aerospace, which has built and flown low-cost aerospace systems over the last 23 years, bills itself as "America's other space program." With a small core staff of about four people and nearly 50 volunteers, the company is trying to establish a private launch service. Using government facilities for commercial launches is expensive, said Alfred Differ, a volunteer who is the company's director of analysis. He said the company will launch just about anything from science experiments to stunts.

"Some people want to put something up there and sell it on eBay," Differ said. "We don't care. As long as it's legal, we'll do it."

JP Aerospace was recruited to the Fort Stockton area by economic development officials representing the city and Pecos County. May said the company is considering moving microsatellite launcher and near-space maneuvering vehicle projects to the site. May said the projects would create "about 50 jobs to start with." Selling points for the area, he said, include the low population density and the fact that there are no aircraft corridors near the site. He said the town also has broadband Internet connections and other necessary infrastructure.

The area's economy now relies on oil, gas and wind power. Said May: "We're trying to diversify."

Fort Stockton is about 220 miles east of El Paso.