More exciting SpaceX news!
Literally ground-breaking, and also metaphorically ground-breaking.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk and the Governor of Texas Rick Perry have officially broken the first ground for the rocketry firm's first commercial spaceport. The ceremony was held near Boca Chica Beach in the south of the state. Musk said the first rockets could blast off from the site by 2016. Once the port is up and running, …
I just looked up the location on Google Maps and I have to say it looks ideal (for an American company). Almost as close to the equator as you can get while still being inside mainland USA, and with plenty of water to the east in case of mishaps.
Suck it, Spaceport Florida, KSC, and USAF Cape Canaveral. Now you see what your red tape has chased away. Everyone had the attitude of "There's nowhere else Musk can go" and "he's bluffing" and "we're the ONLY space port!"
I knew it was bad when the head of AsiaSat said *in* *public* how much it sucked to launch from KSC. (see http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/012/140906capecanaveral/)
I think we'll be safe as long as SpaceX doesn't name its next generation of big engines the Mainsail.
(For those who are not addicted to Kerbal Space Program, the Mainsail is the biggest default engine. Lots of power, with a tendency to overheat and explode 2 seconds before MECO)
I think the Icon speaks for itself in this case. Its KSP afterall.
its to get away from the US air force's eastern range control and tracking people.
Takes them 2 days just to re-position the tracking gear for the next launch.... which can be a bother when your allotted 2 day launch window gets borked by the weather and there's another rocket waiting.....
And Musk can launch when he wants in order to capture a couple of US and russian craft in orbit in order to provoke WW3