Setting up a private rocket site in the remote Tropics of Tonga sounds like a movie supervillain plan, but Randa Milliron of the Mojave, Calif.-based InterOrbital Systems (IOS) explains why it's the best way to get us to orbit and beyond in the recent Podcast interview by Podcaster Dr. Alex "Sandy" Antunes for the 365 Days of Astronomy series [click link for audio]."We like the idea of also having a spaceport in a resort [Tonga], and for us something exotic in the South Pacific is very very exciting. Our kind of a tag line on that is, "from paradise to outer space". We're strictly interested in orbital launch, I mentioned that you before, there are suborbital programs and orbital programs. We are strictly orbital and interplanetary," Milliron told Dr. Antunes in the short Podcast interview.
Whether or not InterOrbital Systems is successful in achieving orbital velocity and a sustainable Earth orbit in 2011 or thereafter remains to be seen but the dedication to a dream of expanding to a private spaceport in Tonga is interesting.
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