Virginia's commercial space industry takes off

by Heather B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
February 2007

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport is flying high after its inaugural rocket launch from the Wallops Space Facility near Chincoteague.

The spaceport, one of six federally licensed launch centers in the U.S., is set to host three launches this year, with the next one - an Air Force mission - scheduled in late April. "We're absolutely thrilled," says spaceport director Billie Reed. "We've always said that success would breed success, and now the phone just will not stop ringing."

Interest is growing in using the spaceport in 2008 and beyond. The agency already is engaged in talks with several organizations. The spaceport currently has the capacity to handle six launches a year and is ideally suited for medium-class rockets carrying a payload of up to 10,000 pounds.

Close to 10,000 spectators witnessed a four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket blast off in December from a launch pad on the south end of Wallops Island. The launch vehicle, constructed by Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp., carried an experimental satellite for NASA and a tactical surveillance satellite for the Air Force.

The Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority, a state agency created by the General Assembly in 1995, built the commercial launch pad in 1998 on land leased from NASA. Maryland later joined the effort as a partner. Virginia's agency recently received funding from Congress to study the feasibility of preparing the spaceport for the next generation of commercial launch centers. "We are seriously looking at expansion," says Reed, "but only to the extent that business would support it. It's just like any other enterprise."

The spaceport is having a positive economic effect on Virginia's Eastern Shore. The Air Force paid the state agency $621,000 for its role in the orbital liftoff, the majority of which was "turned around and put right back into the economy" says Reed.

Nearly 100 people from Orbital, the Air Force and their subcontractors spent four months at Wallops preparing for the rocket launch. Their presence enabled hotels and restaurants in the area to remain open during what is normally the off-season for tourists. Several electrical supply, logistics and other support businesses also have cropped up in the region because of the spaceport.

"It's hard to quantify, but we feel that there's been a tremendous impact associated with just the first launch, and that's not even counting the tourism that came with it," Reed says. "Businesses around here are absolutely ecstatic with what's taking place."