Regulators OK Oklahoma spaceport

Several ventures on the rise
Burns Flat is the sixth commercial spaceport approved by the FAA, joining Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Mojave Airport in California; Cape Canaveral in Florida; the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia; and Kodiak Island in Alaska. Yet another spaceport is under development in New Mexico, but the FAA has not yet issued a license for that facility.

The next few years are likely to see the rise of several suborbital space tourism ventures. British-based Virgin Galactic, which is backed by Virgin Group tycoon Richard Branson, has said it plans to begin space tourism operations in Mojave and at New Mexico's Southwest Regional Spaceport by 2010. The Virgin space planes are being developed by Mojave-based Scaled Composites — the same company that built SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately developed spaceship.

Virginia-based Space Adventures, meanwhile, is involved in deals for the development of spaceports in Singapore and Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and is said to be looking for spaceport facilities in the United States as well. Still more companies — including Blue Origin, PlanetSpace, XCOR Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace — are gearing up for potential operations spread from Texas to Canada.

Unlike many of the spaceports currently under development, the Oklahoma facility would not have to share its airspace with military planes, Khourie noted. "We are the first spaceport facility licensed to fly in the national airspace system, clear of military operating areas or restricted government flight corridors," he said.

He also touted the spaceport's 13,503-foot-long runway, augmented by 1,000 feet of overruns at each end. Such a spaceport is ready-made for flights to and from outer space, he said. Existing buildings could serve to house space planes, manufacturing facilities and even a passenger terminal. "We're ready to go right now, and of course we're looking at ways to make it better," Khourie said.

In addition to Rocketplane's development operations, the spaceport is hosting research, development and test facilities for Armadillo Aerospace, the Texas-based rocket company backed by video-game pioneer John Carmack, said Khourie. And he anticipated still more business to come.

Khourie said XCOR Aerospace, an FAA-licensed spacecraft developer based in Mojave, "has expressed an interest in possibly using our facility also."

"Now that we have demonstrated that we have our license, we will receive more inquiries," he said.

Commercial space race?
Over the past few months, there's been a lot of talk about a commercial race among spaceport operators — but Khourie said he saw his contemporaries in other states as "colleagues and team members" rather than rivals. "I think the vision is that we all hope someday we'll have vehicles operating from one spaceport to another, and we all want this field to be successful," Khourie said.

Stuart Witt, manager of California's Mojave Airport, seconded that sentiment.

"I'm real proud of 'em," he told MSNBC.com. "This industry is going to need a number of traction points across the country if this is going to work."

He said Oklahoma's biggest challenge may be to get additional state support to get the Burns Flat spaceport ready for flight.

Witt and his allies in California's state government are working to get approval for a $11 million loan package to upgrade Mojave's facilities, and he said the proposal is "in the governor's budget lap right now." Witt said he'd also like to get more federal support for the infant suborbital spaceflight industry.

"It wouldn't hurt if a couple more spaceports were with us," Witt said.

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