HOUSTON SPACEPORT DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND PUBLIC HEARING

December 30, 2014

The Houston Airport System (HAS) has a vision to support commercial spaceport operations for horizontally launched Reusable Launch Vehicles(RLVs) from Ellington Airport (EFD). HAS envisions that EFD could be a focal point for aerospace innovation – a regional center for a cluster of aerospace entities acting as incubators for aerospace innovation and growth.

Key Spaceport activities could include:

Component and composite development and fabrication
Space vehicle assembly
Zero-gravity scientific and medical experiments
Microsatellite launches
Astronaut training and development
Space tourism 

Before Houston Spaceport can become established at Ellington Airport, the Houston Airport System must first be granted a Launch Site License from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  HAS is now working closely with the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation to complete the Environmental Assessment. 

The Draft Environmental Assessment is now available on the FAA’s website.

The FAA encourages all interested parties to provide comments concerning the scope and content of the Draft Environmental Assessment. To ensure that all comments can be addressed in the Final Environmental Assessment, comments on the draft must be received by the FAA on or before January 31, 2015, or 30 days from the date of publication of the Federal Register (FR) notice, whichever is later.

Please submit comments in writing to Mr. Daniel Czelusniak, Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Ave., SW, Suite 325, Washington, DC 20591, or by email at houstonspaceportEA@houstontx.gov.

HAS will hold a public hearing on January 22, 2015. Details of the meeting are as follows:

January 22, 2015, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Space Center Houston, Silvermoon Conference Room (1st floor), 1601 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058