The Virginia Commercial Spaceflight
Authority has been granted the 3rd federal license to operate a commercial Spaceport, FAA space officials have confirmed.
And while the space facility will be co-located within the confines of NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia’s eastern shore, state officials hope to give the other existing U.S. Spaceport licensees, California and Florida, a run towards space business by expanding the site into a full scale, full service launch facility for small spacecraft and boosters.
Ivan Somers, with the Center For Innovative Technology (CIT), a
state-supported incubator for northern Virginia technology business, told
SpaceCast that the Virginia Spaceport organization has signed a series of
Memorandum of Agreements (MoAs) with several commercial space
transportation firms for both expendable as well as reusable launch
services from the Virginia facility, which faces the Atlantic Ocean.
But Somers declined to name the groups. Billy Dale, Executive Director of the Virginia Spaceport Authority, confirmed that his organization was preparing to announce the firms that hope to base several small space launch vehicles at multi-use launch pads at the site.
Dale also said that the first commercial launch was being planned for 1999. Somers also told SpaceCast last week that discussions were still ongoing with a potential operator for the launch site. Although more than one firm has been in talks with the state, industry sources say that DynCorp. of Fairfax, Virginia, was the leading candidate.
