Oklahoma Spaceport License Renewed by the FAA

After completing a comprehensive review, the FAA has approved the renewal of the spaceport license for the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority.

The Oklahoma Spaceport license authorizes the Authority to operate a launch site at the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark in Burns Flat, OK, in support of FAA-licensed or –permitted suborbital missions by reusable launch vehicles. The license is valid for five years.

There are currently 12 commercial FAA-licensed spaceports, located in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia.

The FAA’s top priority in regulating commercial space transportation is that launch and reentry operations are safe for the public. The agency protects public safety by licensing commercial launch and reentry activities and monitoring FAA-licensed operations to make sure all phases comply with the regulations. The FAA also issues safety approvals for launch and reentry vehicles, various safety systems and the personnel performing licensed activities.

An FAA license is required to conduct any commercial launch or reentry, the operation of any launch or reentry site by U.S. citizens anywhere in the world, or by any person or entity within the United States.

The Oklahoma Air & Spaceport is the controlling agency for the Infinity One Spaceflight Corridor – the first FAA approved corridor in the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) currently for flight operations not within restricted airspace or Military Operating Areas (MOAs). The facility's corridor is 152-mile-long and 50-mile-wide. They are the controlling agency for all scheduling and flight operations, according to the agency website.

A recently constructed operations control center houses a telemetry room (T&M) for monitoring spaceflight launches, flight, re-entry, and other flight and testing operations. The center also is the operations headquarters for the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority.

The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation manages its licensing and regulatory work as well as a variety of programs and initiatives to ensure the health and facilitate the growth of the U.S. commercial space transportation industry through the Office of the Associate Administrator, the Deputy Associate Administrator, the Chief Engineer, the Chief of Staff and with the Operations Directorate and the Management Directorate.

(Source: FAA news release; OSIDA website. Image courtesy OSIDA)