One of America's leading commercial space firms, Bigelow Aerospace, is now looking to Wallops Island, Va. specifically to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, for potential commercial space launch services according to the firm's attorney who recently visited Virginia's Eastern Shore space facilities. It would be a major commercial space coup if Bigelow launches were to be based in Virginia.
Michael Gold, an attorney who represents Bigelow Aerospace, said the Nevada-based company will work at Wallops Island provided the nation commits to the commercial spaceflight agenda outlined by President Barack Obama, reports The Daily Press in Hampton, Va. Obama is slated to announce a major space policy in the coming week.
The space applications firm is looking for a commercial space launch firms and commercial space launch facilities to launch humans to the firm's privately owned human habitant space stations now planned to in this decade. The firm is now looking at the Atlas V commercial space launch booster. The Wallops Island site may be a perfect opportunity.
Some of the Bigelow Aerospace operations, such as Atlas V, could shift to Wallops Island, Gold said. Such a move could create hundreds of high-paying jobs on the Eastern Shore. "The economic impact of human spaceflight cannot be underestimated," Gold said.
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