State abandons try
By Bruce Dunford
to get spaceport
Associated PressThe state of Hawaii has bowed out of the competition with 17 other states to have the spaceport for America's next generation space shuttle, a single-stage triangular rocket ship called Venturestar.
Had Hawaii stayed in the race and been successful, it would have created a new industry for the islands and generated as many as 3,000 new jobs.
It's the second time in four years that the state has aborted its attempt to launch a space industry, but this time the effort was considerably less expensive.
Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism Deputy Director Brad Mossman said that the state decided not to submit a proposal to Lockheed Martin Corp., which is developing the new spacecraft for NASA. Yesterday was the deadline for the states to submit their proposals.
Hawaii has no existing facilities which could meet Lockheed's basic requirements, such as a minimum 10,000-foot runway and an adjacent 3,000-acre safety zone, Mossman said yesterday.
After a thorough assessment, it was determined the state could not meet the financial and time requirements to put together launching and landing facility to meet Lockheed's target to launch its first Venturestar space shuttle by the year 2003, he said.
Many of the other states have the advantage of using closed military air fields in remote areas where the infrastructure is already in place while Hawaii would have to start from scratch, Mossman said.
Proximity to the equator, a huge expanse of open ocean and consistent good weather gave Hawaii major advantages over some other states, according to Bob Cone of Lockheed's Business Development Office in Sunnyvale, Calif.
While the state considered proposing use of the 11,000-foot runway at the Kona International Airport, Lockheed didn't want to share a commercial facility, Mossman said. Dropping out of the competition doesn't mean Hawaii won't have the opportunity to be the site for other types of space-launching activities, he said.
From 1990 until 1994, former Gov. John Waihee's administration spent about $8 million in an effort to develop a commercial satellite-launching facility in Kau on the Big Island. It was abandoned in the face of strong opposition from environmentalists and community activists.
