A mini-tourism boom in the remote Northern Territory township has been fuelled by NASA's first Australian rocket launch in decades.
The suborbital sounding rocket was launched into space from the newly built Arnhem Space Centre in the early hours of Monday, marking the company's first commercial space launch outside the United States.
Among those who witnessed the rocket's trail into space were Toni and Bruce Wilson, Sydneysiders who had travelled to Nhulunbuy as part of a four-wheel drive motoring club holiday.
Ms Wilson said that it's going to be a great thing for this area to have these launches happening, it's going to add to the already amazing adventure that you can have in this place.
Accommodation providers in the East Arnhem Land township of Nhulunbuy have been booked out for weeks.
It's not just tourists filling up the hotel rooms, dozens of NASA staff have also taken up residence in the city's main lodge, leaving few vacant rooms for the coming weeks, despite high demand.
Nhulunbuy business groups believe that the space industry could be tapped into a lot over the next few years, with an eye on launch tourism to attract more people to the region.
Paul Dobing, the chief executive of Developing East Arnhem Limited, said the new commercial spaceport was an added incentive for tourists to visit the far-flung corner of northern Australia.
He said it gives us the chance to create a really unique experience.
They're the original astronomers, 60,000 odd years of history related to sky country and stars, and ultimately they're the traditional lands of the Yolngu people.
We need to bring all of that together over the next few years, that's a key focus for us. Nhulunbuy business owner Donna-Marie Grieve said the space industry offered hope after the planned closure of its main employer, a Rio Tinto bauxite mine, in less than a decade.
Ms Grieve said that it would open up new avenues and opportunities within our community. She also sits on the board of the town's reconstruction committee.
It's a turning point in tourism in East Arnhem Land and a unique opportunity to come and see something that's not offered anywhere else in Australia. The company that runs the spaceport, Equatorial Launch Australia, has previously flagged that it has long-term ambitions of creating tourism infrastructure around its spaceport, from which it hopes to facilitate up to 50 launches per year.