New Mexico Museum of Space History shatters visitation record

ALAMOGORDO —  Visitation to the New Mexico Museum of Space History has reached astronomical heights, pulling in over 100,000 visits for the first time in 10 years. 

In New Mexico's fiscal year 2017, from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, the museum counted 102,089 visitors walking through their doors. 

“It’s very exciting for us to have five straight years of increasing visitation and to finally top the 100,000 mark for the first time in 10 years,” said Museum Executive Director Christopher Orwoll. “We are up 11.2 percent over last year, and 37.8 percent over our lowest attendance in fiscal year 2012.”

The museum’s highest attendance was over 200,000 guests in fiscal year 1990, but began dropping steadily after that until it reached a low of 74,000 in fiscal year 2012. 

“I believe this constant upswing in visitors is due to a number of factors such as the efforts of the Tourism Department to promote our state, but more directly for us the support of the city of Alamogordo, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and our state legislators who helped provide us with the funding to upgrade our facility and exhibits,” Orwoll said. 

The New Mexico Museum of Space History has done significant work over the past five years, from installing a new laser projection system to bringing in the Apollo Boilerplate Command Module to installing a Star Trek exhibit to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

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Orwoll said the museum plans to make more improvements over the next year, including replacing the theater's aging dome and installing a new playground area near their rocket park.

“All of these improvements, whether visitors can see them like the new playground or not see them like the HVAC upgrades, are aimed at improving our visitor experience and encouraging people to come back and see what else we’ve done," Orwoll said. 

The museum is a significant tourist attraction for Alamogordo, as more than 85 percent of its visitors come from outside the state.

Another significant draw for tourism to the area is White Sands National Monument (WSNM), which also saw historic visitation numbers in 2016. WSNM had 555,793 visitors enter the park during their centennial year, which was a 12 percent increase from 2015 and their highest visitation rate since 1998.

"I think it's exciting that the museum hit the 100,000, that's a nice milestone," said WSNM Chief of Interpretation Becky Burghart. "It's a really good reflection on Alamogordo."

Burghart said White Sands National Monument is the most visited National Park unit in New Mexico, even more than Carlsbad Caverns.

"Last year we had 555,000 visitors and this year we're targeting close to that – that's a lot of visitors coming into the area," Burghart said. "It's great that visitors have options to come to White Sands National Monument, they can go up to the museum, the Toy Railroad Museum, the Lincoln National Forest, Tularosa, Ruidoso and Cloudcroft. It's such a nice nexus for visitors."