Green light for private spaceport

Dennis Crosby — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 02:15:58 GMT

instead of spending so much money and time on outer spase why not develope a high speed rail service that can transport people and cargo from NY to CA. in under 4/5 hrs.

Green light for private spaceport

Casey Wilson — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:05:38 GMT

I'm confused by:
"...the world's first private-sector spaceport."

I thought Mojave Spaceport in California already claimed that title. Mojave is certainly not a government facility by any stretch.

Green light for private spaceport

Alan Boyle — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 05:08:48 GMT

Well, the Mojave Airport is certainly a spaceport, but it's run by the East Kern Airport District Board, a group of elected officials. It's definitely not privately owned. Here's more info from the FAA on the airport's history:

http://ast.faa.gov/linfo_vsite/
maps/detail.cfm?Fac_ID=56

... and here's a ballot listing that includes the district slate:

http://www.smartvoter.org/
2001/11/06/ca/kr/ballot.html

Mojave is definitely doing some innovative things, and they host a number of well-known private space companies (Scaled Composites, XCOR, Interorbital and most recently Masten), but it's not a private facility.

Green light for private spaceport

Wade Whitlock, Aberdeen, MD — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:47:02 GMT

Yawn! More reverse bungee jumping. Instead of trying take a share of a tiny market, these guys had best develop some sort of viable product. Seen much about bungee jumping lately?

On a more cosmic note, seen the Cass-A photo from Hubble on the BBC Science and Nature page? WOW!

We are about to be Ernesto'd, so I will be checking the bilge pumps. Have a good one.

Green light for private spaceport

H, Tulsa OK — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:54:39 GMT

Are we forgetting the Oklahoma Spaceport that Rocketplane uses? Why do we need to have so many spaceports? How about everyone combine resources and build a really nice spaceport at one of the existing locations.

Green light for private spaceport

Mike — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:01:02 GMT

Why do people always want to tell others how to spend thier money? Maybe Mr. Bezos hates trains. Who cares? It's his and his corporation's money to spend as they wish. Now if you had a realistic plan for this train, I might invest. Mr. Bezos, however, can do what he wants. If I had his money, I might do the same.

Green light for private spaceport

James, Springfield, TN — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:39:53 GMT

When can I buy my ticket!? I'm ready to go!

Green light for private spaceport

Alan Boyle — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:40:34 GMT

I haven't forgotten about Oklahoma ... they may be in business before Bezos. The Oklahoma spaceport is run by OSIDA, a development authority set up by the state of Oklahoma, on a former military air base. By the way, the folks at the Oklahoma and the Mojave spaceports say that if there's just one spaceport, their industry will have failed. They agree that there will have to be multiple ports. Eventually, a spaceship might take off from Oklahoma and land in New Mexico or California, just to provide more of a view.

Green light for private spaceport

fourx4ever — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 18:18:34 GMT

To the person who wrote: 'instead of spending so much money and time on outer space why not develop a high speed rail service'

This is a myopic, small retro minded, vision of the future. I'm not saying I would not support high speed rail service. However to say that money which could put us all into space to expand our human horizons should be spent on a train is just wrong. It's about time we break the bonds of this gravity well we call earth. Hats off to Mr. Bezos, he's a lot more than a book salesman!

Green light for private spaceport

Frank Glover — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:16:16 GMT

Also, let it be noted that Jeff Bezos *does* have another company working on electric cars...

Green light for private spaceport

Jack kennedy, Wise, Va. — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:55:22 GMT

It is wonderful that Jeff Bezos is the first person to own a private spaceport. I wish him super-success with its operations and NewShepard and all those versions to follow.

With commercial spaceports in California, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Virginia along with those planned in the Canada, UK, Scotland, Sweden,
Singapore, and the UAE, I wonder when point-to-point spaceports will become commercially viable. Hypersonic flights from Wallops to Cornwall or Wallops to Mojave in 30-minutes at a reasonable cost would not be bad at all. It might even beat high speed rail ...