• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Space Adventures Company Considers Oklahoma for Site of Tourism Spaceport

Posted on: Thursday, 18 March 2004, 06:00 CST

Mar. 18--The company that sent two multimillionaires to the International Space Station put Oklahoma on its list of possible sites for its space tourism spaceport this week.

The move comes as a bill to regulate the space tourism industry is making its way through the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.

Space Adventures, based in Arlington, Va., released a statement this week saying it is currently exploring several locations around the world, including the planned Oklahoma Spaceport at the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark in Burns Flat.

Other sites being considered are in Australia, the Bahamas, Florida, Japan, Malaysia, Nevada, New Mexico, Singapore, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, according to a company statement.

In April 2001, Space Adventures negotiated to put millionaire Dennis Tito on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that carried him to the International Space Station for $20 million. The company did the same for Mark Shuttleworth in April 2002

"Space Adventures is one of the companies with whom we have a memorandum of understanding," said Melissa Smith, public relations officer with the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority.

She said the company is one of about 15 with nonbinding agreements stating intentions of bringing business to the state.

Space Adventures has been on the list since 2002, when retired Air Force Gen. Jay Edwards, the former executive director of the authority, said the company was supposedly less than four weeks away from signing a contract with the state.

Eric Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Space Adventures, was on a plane en route from Russia on Wednesday and could not be reached by The Oklahoman.

In the written statement, Anderson said, "Securing the location of a spaceport will be a progressive step for Space Adventures in its evolution from a space experiences provider to an actual space flight academy. We are aggressively seeking a location and enthusiastically look forward to the launch of the first Space Adventures sub-orbital flight from our spaceport in the coming years."

He said operations at a spaceport will include sub-orbital flights, a space flight training center and other activities.

According to company literature, suborbital flights include a trip in a rocket-propelled plane to an altitude of 62 miles above Earth, where rocket engines will be shut down and passengers will experience up to five minutes of weightlessness while gazing into space.

Space Adventures said it is the marketing and experience operations partner for several suborbital flight vehicles currently being manufactured and tested. More than 100 seat reservations from worldwide candidates have been made for future flights, the company said.

Space Adventures is in the running for the X-Prize, a $10 million purse offered to the first private company to build and fly a three-person space vehicle to an altitude of 62.5 miles twice within a two-week period and return safely to earth.

Chuck Kline, in the FAA's office of commercial space transportation, said he expects the prize to be awarded this year.

For it's part, the state of Oklahoma has a number of tax and financial incentives for space tourism companies willing to locate here.

"This is an ideal economic scenario for local communities. The building and then operation of a Space Adventures' spaceport will undoubtedly bring tens of millions of dollars in the short-term and hundreds of millions in the long-term to the local economy through the increase of jobs and of tourists to the area and the required ancillary support," said Tim Franta, space business consultant and former director of business development with the Florida Space Authority.

"It will be a win-win for both Space Adventures and the selected region."

-----

To see more of The Daily Oklahoman, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsok.com

(c) 2004, The Daily Oklahoman. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

More News in this Category