Nine states join forces to foster space flights

Monday, Dec. 11, 2000 | 11:30 a.m.

Nine states, including Nevada, have joined forces to attract shuttle companies that need spaceports.

The states banded together in an effort to ensure legislation and regulations help Alabama, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Texas and Minnesota enter the space age, said Tim Carlson, executive director of the NTS Development Corp.

The state have organized as the "National Coalition of Spaceport States."

By cooperating, the states hope to compete on a level playing field with existing launch sites such as Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is one of the sites being considered by two satellite companies, Kistler Aerospace and VentureStar.

Kistler of Kirkland, Wash., plans to test its K-1 reusable orbital vehicle in Australia, eventually bringing the launch facility to the Test Site.

The Federal Aviation Administration has not received an application from Kistler, a spokesman in its Washington, D.C., headquarters said.

Kistler can't apply to fly from the Test Site until it proves itself in Australia, Carlson said.

It could take another two years before Kistler arrives at the Test Site, Department of Energy spokesman Derek Scammell said. The DOE manages the Test Site.

"It all hinges on what happens in Australia," Scammell said.

Another project called VentureStar could complement the Kistler program, Carlson said. VentureStar is a shorter but wider version of the space shuttle under development by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works plant in Palmdale, Calif.

Kistler and VentureStar would take off in the restricted air space over the Test Site, former location of nuclear weapons experiments, until the U.S. declared a ban on underground nuclear blasts in 1992.

Spacecraft are currently launched from sites on either coast so that booster rockets can be dumped safely in the ocean.

Nevada, along with other states, wants to build pads for future launches, but they will require a reusable rocket that does not drop off boosters.

Meanwhile, the nine states plan to work together to share ideas for future ventures, Carlson said.