spacetoday.net: SpaceX moving ahead with plans for Texas launch site

Posted: Tue, Apr 10, 2012, 7:12 AM ET (1112 GMT)
Falcon Heavy illustration (SpaceX)

A regulatory filing released Monday is the latest evidence that SpaceX is pursuing plans for a new spaceport on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The notice by the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation states that the office is starting work on an environmental impact statement for a proposed spaceport in Cameron County, Texas, north of Brownsville, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The environmental review is part of the process required to obtain a launch site operator license from the FAA. The proposed spaceport would host up to 12 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches per year, carrying spacecraft and Dragon capsules. The launches would take trajectories to the east over the Gulf. SpaceX had previously shown an interest in a new launch site separate from its existing facility at Cape Canaveral and a pad it is refurbishing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX has also considered sites in Florida and Puerto Rico.