The Washington Post reports on an impending launch from a spaceport only a three-and-a-half hour drive from DC, that may herald an expanding role for the region in the emerging space launch industry.
If all goes as hoped, at about 7 a.m. Dec. 11, a new day in the local aerospace industry will begin when the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport launches a 69-foot, green and white Minotaur I rocket carrying satellites for the Air Force and NASA.
It will be the culmination of a decade-long effort to start a regional, state-backed space launch industry and one that its creators believe could someday send tourists from the shores of Virginia to outer space.
Weather permitting, the launch should be visible from Washington on the eastern horizon, experts say.
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The next launch of the Minotaur from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport is set for 21 April 2007. NASA is also conducting a $500,000 study to determine if the spaceport is a suitable location for NASA Comercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) resupply flights to the International Space Station. The hope is that either or both SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kisler will use the domestic site. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport should also prove suitable for human suborbital tourist flights in the next few years too. http://spaceports.blogsport.com and
http://mid-atlanticregionalspaceport.blogspot.com/ will provide more information about the Wallops Island, Va. launch site.
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