Commercial Space Flight Operations at the Oklahoma Spaceport

Paper number

IAC-06-D2.2.06

Author

Mr. Charles Lauer, Rocketplane Ltd., United States

Year

2006

Abstract

This paper will describe the history of the Oklahoma Spaceport, from its origins as a B-52 Strategic Air Command base during the Cold War through today as a FAA AST commercially licensed inland spaceport for suborbital flight operations.  The goals and process of establishing the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority by the State of Oklahoma will be detailed, along with the private sector financial initiatives used by the State to enable the spaceport development project.

Existing improvements, proposed infrastructure improvements and enhancements, flight corridors and flight planning and coordination, and flight safety issues associated with over-land space flight will be described.  A competitive assessment of other commercial spaceports such as New Mexico and Mojave will be performed.  Synergies between actual space flight operations and terrestrial business and toursim opportunities will be discussed.

The process of establishing the Oklahoma Spaceport provides valuable lesson learned for other entities around the world that desire to particpate in the new space tourism industry.

Abstract document

IAC-06-D2.2.06.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-D2.2.06.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.