Florida Looks at Building a Private Spaceport

[Tuckerfan]

Why should the NASA guys be the only astronauts who get to enjoy Florida?

Already, thousands of people with hefty wallets and lifelong dreams of space flight have lined up for a chance to tour the heavens – if only for a few minutes. And Space Coast tourism officials hope to attract their share of space tourists who have $200,000 to spend on a joyride to suborbital space.

“If there is going to be a fleet of these ships, we should get at least one of them,” said Rob Varley, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism. “We could run it like we do our cruise industry and people would come here to stay a few nights in a hotel and then go on their trip.”

Space tourism could turn the X Prize into Brevard’s $ Prize, injecting millions into the economy and adding thousands of jobs, which would supplement flat NASA budgets.

[Rhubarb]

Imagine the safety lecture;

“…In case of a water landing, your seat cushion serves as a piece of floating debris to show the divers where to look for your body.”

[Mr.Blue_Sky]

I can see it now: the whole place run by the Squeaky Voiced Teens from the Simpsons.