Wed, Jun 14, 2006
Could Host First Flight By 2007
Good news for backers
of a proposed western Oklahoma spaceport. The FAA Tuesday announced
its approval of an operator's license for the Oklahoma Space
Industry Development Authority to build a launch facility in the
tiny town of Burns Flat.
"We are the planet's newest gateway to space," Bill Khourie,
executive director of the Oklahoma Space Development Authority,
told MSNBC.com after the FAA's announcement on Tuesday.
MSNBC reports the FAA approval gives Oklahoma the early edge
over competing spaceports in Calfornia, New Mexico, Florida and
Wisconsin. And while that doesn't necessarily mean anything will be
launched from the Sooner state anytime... um, soon -- the authority
still needs separate FAA permission for that -- it's a good place
to start... and a welcome one at that for supporters of the
idea that government shouldn't have a monopoly on space travel.
Supporters of the Okie spaceport want to start suborbital
tourist flights as soon as possible... and at the top of that list
is David Urie, executive vice president of Rocketplane Limited.
"[The approval]'s extremely important, because it means we have
a place to fly," Urie said. "It was an absolute necessity for our
plans that they've achieved this licensing."
Rocketplane is pushing ahead with its plan to market a modified
Learjet -- equipped with a rocket engine (above) -- for
suborbital travel, with its first test flight scheduled in
2007.
Urie added that watching the spaceport's approval process go
forward may give his company added insight into its own future
plans to win FAA certification.
"Interestingly enough, we supported the site licensing with data
that were relevant to both the environmental [impact] and safety,"
Urie said. "The work that has been done in that regard is to some
extent applicable to our licensing."
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