Posted: Thu, Jun 15, 2006, 1:35 PM ET (1735 GMT)
The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation issued a license this week for a spaceport in Oklahoma, a key step towards the initiation of suborbital space tourism flights there. The launch site operator license covers suborbital flights from the former Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base in Burns Flat, Oklahoma, about 150 kilometers west of Oklahoma City. The facility boasts a runway over 4,000 meters long, as well as hangars and other infrastructure from its days as an air force base. The spaceport will be used by Rocketplane Kistler for the suborbital flights of its Rocketplane XP spaceplane, currently under development with test flights scheduled to begin next year.

Related Links:

•  MSNBC article
•  The Oklahoman article
•  Norman (Okla.) Transcript article
•  AP article
•  FAA/AST press release