An Airport in Western Illinois wants to become a “Space Port”
Imagine arriving at the airport with your bags packed to Florida, while the family next to you is packed for a trip to Space...this scenario is closer to becoming a reality than you think. An airport along the Mississippi River in Illinois wants to add a "Space Port" as space tourism is set to explode!
According to NPR Illinois, an airport in the Quad Cities area is taking the first steps towards becoming a Space Airport for future tourism space travel. In the article on NPR Illinois, they say...
"The Moline airport is conducting a study to see how much money and work it would take to add a spaceport in the next twenty years...Spokeswoman Ashleigh Davis says it could become a "horizontal launch" site. "Planes would use the existing ten thousand foot runway that the airport has, they would take off just like a regular commercial aircraft would, however they would have a different system that they'd switch on, a different fueling mechanism, that would allow them to travel into space."
The article goes on to mention that currently there are 10 of these horizontal launch spaceports licensed by the FAA. For more information on the possible Space Airport coming to the Quad Cities area of Illinois/Iowa, click here!
This makes a ton of sense, I know it seems weird and futuristic but we have to come to terms with the fact that space travel will be heavily commercialized over the next 30 years. That means there will need to be plenty of spaces for cargo, and people, to get to space that aren't just Florida, Texas, and California. The Quad Cities area is close to merchandise and people from St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines, and everything else. The future is upon us...
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