Posted: Sat, Jun 19, 2004, 1:37 PM ET (1737 GMT)
Mojave Airport in California, the takeoff and landing site for the SpaceShipOne suborbital RLV, has received a commercial spaceport license from the FAA, the airport announced Friday. Airport officials said Friday that the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation approved their application for a spaceport license, allowing the airport to be used for launches of horizontal takeoff RLVs. The airport becomes the first commercial inland spaceport in the US; four other licensed facilities in Alaska, California, Florida, and Virginia are on the coasts. The airport erected a sign Friday announcing their spaceport status. The license comes just days before SpaceShipOne is scheduled to fly on its potentially-historic suborbital flight. The spaceport license wasn't required for the flight, since the FAA considers SpaceShipOne's carrier aircraft, White Knight, to be the launch site. There was no formal announcement from the FAA about the spaceport license, although one is expected early next week, perhaps in conjunction with the SpaceShipOne flight.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  MSNBC article