State paid $1.5M to show logo during Virgin Galactic flight

The VSS Unity reaches a speed of Mach 3, and a space altitude of 53.5 miles above the Earth on Sunday. Entrepreneur Richard Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of about 53 miles over the New Mexico desert, enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. (Virgin Galactic via AP)

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The VSS Unity reaches a speed of Mach 3, and a space altitude of 53.5 miles above the Earth on Sunday. Entrepreneur Richard Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of about 53 miles over the New Mexico desert, enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. (Virgin Galactic via AP)

ALBUQUERQUE – New Mexico spent $1.5 million to advertise the state during the Virgin Galactic space launch Sunday.

The spending paid to have the state’s logo on screen during the flight’s broadcast, KOB-TV reported.

The flight saw Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson briefly rocket into space aboard the company’s winged space plane for the first time.

A third of the money came from a $500,000 special appropriation by the New Mexico Legislature to market and promote the state during the flight and the rest came from the Tourism Department’s budget, department spokesman Cody Johnson said.

“We actually have a conservative estimate of around $3.5 million in media value just from the event itself and again that’s a pretty conservative estimate, because we’ve seen so much coverage and viewership of the livestream, that it’s going to grow over the coming days and weeks,” Johnson said earlier this week.