WASHINGTON, MAY 12: Undaunted by widespread scepticism, New Mexico’s effort to build the world’s first commercial spaceport is nearly on schedule to open in late 2010.

Its intended prime tenant, Virgin Galactic, says the startup will also be ready for business by then, with more than 275 customers who have already paid $35 million for seats on spaceships that would launch from the high desert site and reach the edge of space.

Many hurdles remain — including environmental approvals and certifying the space-worthiness of Virgin Galactic’s radical White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo — but the project got a major boost last month when voters in a second New Mexico county approved a sales tax increase to help pay for the spaceport. New Mexico officials are gleeful that they were able to persuade residents of Sierra County, a large and sparsely populated area with an average age of 55, to vote 2 to 1 for the tax increase.

“The space business is a very, very difficult one, and you never know what lies ahead,” said Kelly O’Donnell, chair of New Mexico’s Spaceport Authority, which was conceived in 1990. “But we’re moving ahead just as we hoped.”

The spaceport, to be located just east of the town of Truth or Consequences, appears to have the jump on other ventures proposing facilities in Virginia, Oklahoma, California, Alaska, Florida and other states. Other nations are also getting into the act — with Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Dubai and Sweden are all planning spaceports.

O’Donnell said that once the federal government grants the permits, construction can begin quickly, because the authority has the $200 million it needs from the state and county governments.

Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, founded by entrepreneur-adventurer Richard Branson, said the company’s mother ship (made of super-light carbon-composite metal) will make its first test flight in late summer. The company is working with the Federal Aviation Administration on safety and other issues, and the process is going well, he said. “But we can’t say exactly when everything will be settled, because, well, this has never been done before,” Whitehorn said. The company is negotiating a long-term lease at the spaceport, which will be its international headquarters.

“We’re in the very early stage of creating a new kind of air transport system,” said Steven Landeene, executive director of the New Mexico spaceport. “Space tourism is the first phase, along with the commercial launching of satellites and spacecraft that can carry cargo and even astronauts to the international space.”

That future is still in the far distance. What New Mexico officials are working on now is persuading its citizens and the federal government that the spaceport will not harm the environment.