LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — During a scorching afternoon Wednesday, thrill-seekers faced their fears while riding the "Big Shot" attraction, which is more than 1,100 feet above the ground at the Strat.
Nep Lopez, a tourist from California, was there to experience the ride — strapped-in customers are thrusted another 160 feet into the air — for the first time.
"I'm a little scared, yes," Lopez said with a laugh before heading onto the ride. "I've been to Six Flags many times. I enjoy stuff like this."
If a local businessman has his way, a new spaceport could be built about an hour west of the Strip. Rob Lauer's plan is to have an entire spaceport complex on nearly 250 acres of land on the western edge of Clark County, about a 15-minute drive from Pahrump.
MORE: Plans unveiled for a Las Vegas Spaceport
"In three-to-five years, we expect to have rockets launching from here, literally," Lauer said.
It wouldn't be the first spaceport in the U.S. Actually, there are over a dozen of them already, in 10 different states, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Technology is advancing rapidly when it comes to space travel and people like Lauer believe it could someday be available to the masses.
"We're talking about space planes, which are point-to-point hypersonic vehicles," Lauer said. "These are being built right now by companies like Boeing and Airbus...this is not guys building stuff in their garage."
In late June, Lauer met with officials at Nellis Air Force Base to discuss his plans. He said he's gotten a positive response from some Clark County officials as well, though he will have to raise a lot of money — around $300 million — to make his plan a reality.
If and when it is done, Lauer said customers could travel from rural Clark County to space and back for about $30,000 in today's dollars.
In the future, he thinks costs could come down drastically.
"It will become normal transportation," he said. "Imagine what people thought of the concept of going on an airliner years ago — it would have sounded crazy. Here's the deal, though, all the technology for this, for the most part, already exists."
Doreen Seidel, director of communications for Exotics Racing, a popular race track just outside Las Vegas where customers can drive speedy sports cars, says Las Vegas is built for experiences that push the envelope.
"When people come to Vegas, they want to do something extraordinary, something that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," she said. "At our race track, people can drive their dream car and they can go as fast as they want. We get anyone from teenagers who just turned 18 to drivers as old as 100."
Lauer cautioned that many steps remain before the spaceport build would begin, but he's optimistic it will happen.
After all, what's more Las Vegas than dreaming big and reaching for the stars? That's how this city was built.
