Spaceport

A spaceport is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with airport for aircraft. Typically the site is large enough that should a rocket explode it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads.

Typically preferred are launches from near the equator in an easterly direction. This allows maximum use of the Earth's rotational speed, and a good orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit. It also increases mass-to-orbit. For polar or Molniya orbits, these aspects do not apply. For safety, a launch vector over water or deserted land is important.

It is believed that future hypersonic aircraft will require a very long runway rather than a vertical launch pad. Such hypothetical spaceports will present unique challenges in noise abatement, zoning, and passenger access, with as much as a 5 mile wide corridor surrounding a 30 mile long runway. A dedicated mass transit system from the nearest public access point to the aircraft boarding area will be required.

Some of the spaceports are:

• North America:
  • Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on Merritt Island, Florida
  • Kennedy Space Center, also on Merritt Island, Florida
  • Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
  • Kodiak Launch Complex, Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska
  • Meadows Field Airport, Bakersfield, California, not technically a spaceport, but is the take-off site for Orbital Sciences' mothership for Pegasus
  • Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California
  • Oklahoma Spaceport, Burns Flat, Oklahoma
  • Southwest Regional Spaceport, Upham, New Mexico

• South America:
  • Alcantara Launch Center, Maranhão, Brazil
  • Centre Spatial Guyanais at Kourou, French Guiana

• Asia:
  • Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazakhstan
  • Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
  • Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
  • Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China
  • Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China
  • Tanegashima Space Center, Tanegashima Island, Japan
  • Uchinoura Space Center, Japan
  • Christmas Island Spaceport, Australia

• Open ocean:
  • Sea Launch departs Long Beach, California and sails to the equator, where they conduct launches from a converted oil platform.

External links

• MSNBC: Spaceports compete in race for business (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6191567/)

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