Spaceport Hawaii: Maybe

"Hawaii wants to add space travel to attractions"
The Associated Press (July 10, 2009)

"Space pioneers envision launching high-end Hawaii tourists from the sand to the stars, taking island-hopping to new heights.

"Hawaii could become the first place where travelers can use the planes for real transportation. Planners envision planes taking off in one place, traveling through space, then landing in another, going from the Big Island to Oahu. Within a decade, space travelers could island hop from Hawaii to Japan in 45 minutes.

"And promoters promise a unique perspective during the flight...."

Plans for a Hawaiian spaceport face the same sort of issues that New Mexico's Spaceport America have had.

Apparently, on top of expenses related to actually building the facility, there's the matter of a license fee. Hawaii's state government has authorized $500,000 to pay for a federal spaceport license from the federal government: but Hawaii's got the same economic problems as the rest of the world.

This article gives a pretty good look at the sort of preparation that goes into setting up a new spaceport.

For someone like me, who remembers John Glenn's first orbital flight, the development of spaceports around the world help make this an exciting time.

Related posts:

• "Groundbreaking at Spaceport America: World's First Purpose-Built Commercial Spaceport"
  (June 20, 2009)
• "Doing Something for a Much Larger Reason"
  (December 22, 2008)
• "Spaceport America: Still Open for Business"
  (November 6, 2008)
• "Spaceport Development Tax on Otero County Ballot"
  (November 5, 2008)
• "Spaceport America: It's Real, and Open for Business"
  (October 26, 2008)
• "Spaceports: the Blog"
  (October 26, 2008)
• "Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery"
  (October 25, 2008)
  • A review of a post by someone who wasn't aware that a commercial spaceport was already in operation.

Background:

• Rocketplane Global, Inc.