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Colorado airport hopes to add spacecraft to its runway

Spaceport Colorado moving closer to reality
Posted at 6:07 PM, May 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-02 21:47:51-04

WATKINS, Colo. -- After an approximately five-year effort, Spaceport Colorado may finally be taking off. An official tells Denver7 the spaceport hopes to get a license from the federal government by the end of the year.

Located at Front Range Airport in Watkins, the spaceport would be a place for spacecraft to take off and land.   Currently there are 11 approved sites by the federal government in the U.S.

So far, $860,000 has been spent to get a license. 

Denver International Airport, the city of Aurora, Adams County, and the Federal Aviation Administration are among those contributing to the funding.

The operation could create jobs from a $300 billion industry.

Colorado already has a strong space presence from giants like Boeing and Sierra Nevada.

“If everything went great for a company like Virgin Galactic, you could see them with a commercial license within the new couple of years, and a couple of years after that, being able to actually operate at a place like Spaceport Colorado,” said director David Ruppel.

Such a development is exciting to longtime aviators.

“As hokey as it may be, kind of that final frontier, right?” said Brian Eaton, the chief pilot at Front Range Flight School.


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