LANL’s collaboration with UP Aerospace and Spaceport America, along with the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range, enabled the federally funded R&D center to conduct space-related tests locally, resulting in increasingly efficient timelines and costs.
Source: Spaceport America
By Charlie Hurley
Photo: Courtesy
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (November 19, 2025) – UP Aerospace completed its 23rd suborbital space flight at Spaceport America, carrying a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) payload to an apogee of roughly 72 miles, at 7:00 a.m. local time Wednesday (Nov. 19, 2025) morning.
“We extend our congratulations to UP Aerospace on its latest successful launch from New Mexico,” said Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. “Our two organizations have a history dating back almost two decades, and we value UP’s continued commitment to Spaceport America.”
LANL’s collaboration with UP Aerospace and Spaceport America, along with the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range, enabled the federally funded R&D center to conduct space-related tests locally, resulting in increasingly efficient timelines and costs. Additional payload collaborators on the flight include NASA Ames Research Center and Redwire Space.
“New Mexico is investing in and expanding its space industry, and it’s encouraging to see multiple organizations from our state and beyond collaborating on initiatives like these,” McLaughlin continued. “We have seen increasing economic impact from the state-built spaceport, and launches like these are important to our local partners as well.”
Long-term customer UP Aerospace maintains a launch complex and payload processing center at the spaceport. Its SpaceLoft-XL 18 rocket served as the transportation method for Wednesday’s mission, and nearly 200 people gathered at Spaceport America to witness the launch.
“Partnering with private local businesses is essential to this specific process,” LANL expressed in a statement. “Such partnerships streamline research processes, reinforce ties with local businesses, and build the strength and infrastructure of the local economy for years to come.”
About Spaceport America
Spaceport America is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. The FAA-licensed launch complex, situated on 18,000 acres adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, has a rocket-friendly environment of 6,000 square miles of restricted airspace, low population density, a 12,000-foot by 200-foot runway, vertical launch complexes, and about 340 days of sunshine and low humidity.
Some of the most respected companies in the commercial space industry are tenants at Spaceport America: Virgin Galactic, HAPSMobile/ AeroVironment, UP Aerospace, Prismatic Ltd., Swift Engineering, Isotropic, and SpinLaunch. Additional customers Spaceport America partners with include the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, Venus Aerospace, and Precision AI.
About UP Aerospace
UP Aerospace was created in 1998 by founder Jerry Larson and incorporated in 2004 with headquarters located in Denver, Colorado.UP Aerospace has been successfully conducting sub-orbital space launches from Spaceport America in New Mexico since 2006.
Its launch operations and SpaceLoft sub-orbital launch vehicle were designed and built from the ground up as a highly reliable, low-cost Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) system. Flight hardware re-usability has been a key program requirement for the SpaceLoft launch program, enabling further advancements in low cost space launch operations.