Megastructures

Spaceport America (2011x10)

Air date: Aug 29, 2011

Time was, if you wanted to leave earth, you needed a government ride. But in the very desert that helped give birth to the Space Age, Spaceport America will rise. The space version of an airport, it's a revolution in travel, with a revolutionary design to match. Yet the spaceport faces a world of hurdles. "Probably the most complicated project I've ever been on," says an engineer. The site sits in the middle of nowhere: no roads, no water, no power. And the spaceport won't be built unless a rancher controlling the land for a runway changes her mind.