spacetoday.net: Florida airport receives spaceport license

Florida airport receives spaceport license

Posted: Wed, Jan 13, 2010, 7:20 AM ET (1220 GMT)
An airport outside Jacksonville, Florida, is the latest facility to be licensed as a commercial spaceport in the US. Cecil Field, a former naval air station west of the city, received a license from the FAA permitting flights of horizontally launched reusable launch vehicles. The license covers two classes of such vehicles, both of which take off from the airport under jet power and ignite rockets at higher altitudes, in restricted airspace over the Atlantic Ocean east of the airport. The airport features several long runways, including one 3,800 meters long. The airport's operator, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, has not announced any customers for the spaceport but officials there said they were in discussions with several potential users.