THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180285
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
NASA and the state of Virginia have agreed to establish a commercial spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island.
A signed memorandum of understanding allows NASA to lend its staff and expertise to Virginia's Commercial Space Flight Authority, officials said.
Virginia's Eastern Shore and Old Dominion University would be among the project's biggest beneficiaries. ODU could become home to a university consortium specializing in space-related research and education. And commercial success at Wallops could mean jobs on the Eastern Shore.
Regular launches of small telecommunications and remote sensing satellites from the island rocket range could occur as early as mid-1998.
``This agreement allows us to discuss details - technical details, cost, use of the property with NASA,'' said Robert G. Templin Jr., chairman of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. ``By the end of the year, we hope to break ground for a spaceport: a pad, tower and service facility. It's possible the spaceport will be operational 18 months to two years after that.''
Virginia's space proponents have long argued that a growing number of space-related companies in Northern Virginia and the presence of Wallops - one of only three rocket launch sites in the continental United States - was a unique concentration of resources that the state should use to its economic advantage. One company, Maryland-based EER Systems Inc., already has a launch pad at Wallops. EER's attempted launch of its Conestoga rocket in October ended abruptly as the craft veered off course, and was destroyed by its self-destruct mechanisms. The company has vowed to try again, perhaps by 1998.
In July 1995, Gov. George F. Allen formally created the space authority, appointing an 11-member board of directors. Last month, the authority won a contract worth up to $6 million to help launch converted Minuteman ballistic missiles from Wallops. The missiles will be retooled into rockets that will carry scientific experiments.
This latest agreement should allow the spaceport to move from hypothesis to fact.
``The memorandum says we're all heading toward the same place: a more detailed agreement that will actually get the job done,'' said H. Ray Stanley, a senior NASA Wallops official.
``We've been trying for some two years or so to get a relationship with the Virginia Space Flight Authority. We're real happy to get to this point.''
According to chairman Templin, the space authority has at least $2 million in federal and state funds and will be seeking more within the next several months. The eventual cost of pad and facilities construction could reach $8 million.
``What this does is catches Virginia up with Florida and California. Both have made arrangements with government agencies for cooperation and mutual support,'' NASA's Stanley said.
``The standard mode of operation is smaller, quicker and cheaper access to space. If that's what industry wants to achieve, they'll have a good opportunity to do it at Wallops.''
Rep. Herbert H. Bateman, R-Newport News, helped broker the talks between NASA and the state. A preliminary market study conducted by the state authority showed strong private interest in the spaceport, Templin said.
``During the time I was working in economic development, I put a big hunk of my time into this effort,'' said Keith Bull, Accomack County administrator.
``I think it has tremendous potential.'' MEMO: The Associated Press and staff writer Karen Jolly Davis contributed to
this report. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
FILE
NASA and the state will create a commercial spaceport.
by CNB