FORT STOCKTON, Texas -- A company successfully launched a 14-foot rocket Saturday night on arid Texas ranchland that organizers hope will become a commercial spaceport.

The 50 or so people cheered when the slim white rocket blasted off, then roared again when it came down five minutes later with a parachute.

The rocket traveled about 20,000 feet in 34 seconds and came down several miles away. The launch was delayed for 3 1/2 hours because of high winds.

The launch site -- on treeless, scrubby ranchland about nine miles south of Fort Stockton -- is a far cry from NASA.

But California company JP Aerospace, which has built and flown low-cost aerospace systems over the last 23 years, is trying to establish a private launch service. With a small core staff of about four peoplen and 50 volunteers, the company is billing itself as "America's other space program."

Using government facilities for commercial launches is expensive, said Alfred Differ, a volunteer who is the company's director of analysis.