A look back at the spaceport industry’s milestones for 2022
By Izzy House
The roar of the 2020s comes from the sound of launches into space. Space stations, satellites, Moon voyages, and suborbital transportation herald in this new era. Spaceports connect our world and are vital infrastructure for space transportation.
They are the gateway to space. Here is a brief look into recent events in the past year that heralded in a new era for the space industry.
January 10– 7th Annual Global Spaceport Alliance Membership Caucus was held in Orlando, Florida.
February 16 — The 24th Annual Federal Aviation Administration’s FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference was held in Washington D.C.
April 19 — The Maine Spaceport steps closer as Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law creating a public-private partnership that would build launch sites, data networks, and operations to send satellites into space.
May 12 — Axiom Space breaks ground at Houston Spaceport on its new 400,000-square-foot headquarters on 22 acres.
May 13 — The Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority was issued a license to operate a reentry site, which will support potential landings of the Sierra Space Dream Chaser.
June 10 — Kennedy Space Center celebrated its 60th anniversary.
June 21 — 4th Annual Spaceport America Cup 2022–149 teams from 22 different countries competed during the five-day event.
June 27 — NASA launches its first rocket from a non-U.S. spaceport. The rocket took off from the Arnhem Space Centre in Australia’s Northern Territory.
July 20 — Global Spaceport Alliance organized a session on “The Advent of Point-to-Point Space Travel” was held at the Farnborough International Airshow.
August 31 — Collins Aerospace inaugurated a new, 120,000-square-foot facility located at the Houston Spaceport.
September 9 — Maritime Launch Services breaks ground on Canada’s first orbital launch site for a spaceport in Nova Scotia.
October 12 — The Norwegian government approved the building of a new spaceport on Andøya.
November 15 — Space Perspective unveiled MS Voyager– the world’s first Marine Spaceport (MS) for human spaceflight, and the first in a planned fleet of this new class of spaceports globally.
November 16 — Spaceport Cornwall awarded a license to host UK’s first space launch.
November 16 — Artemis I launch from Launch Complex 39B from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission duration was 25 days, 10 hours, 53 minutes with a total distance traveled of 1.3 million miles.
December 8–9 — Global Spaceport Alliance co-chaired the 5th High-Speed Aerospace Transportation Workshop in Midland, Texas
December 15 — The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority was issued an updated license to operate a launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.
December 17 — Federal Aviation Administration clears Rocket Lab for first launch from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.
December 19 — Israeli Spaceport was announced.
December 22 — The government acquired over 80% of land for India’s second spaceport in Tamil Nadu.
December 22 — Announced ribbon cutting for Spaceport Esrange in Sweden. After years of preparation and construction, the European mainland’s first orbital launch complex, Spaceport Esrange, will be inaugurated on January 13, 2023.
December 22 — Virgin Orbit receives U.K.’s first orbital launch license to launch from Spaceport Cornwall in early 2023.
Worth a mention:
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser plane is planned to launch on the second flight of United Launch Alliance (ULA)’s new Vulcan rocket in 2023, bringing cargo to the International Space Station National Laboratory Station. With the addition of New Mexico’s Spaceport America, Sierra Space now has potential runways to utilize at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as locations in Huntsville, Alabama; the Oita Airport in Japan; and Spaceport Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
ABOUT IZZY HOUSE
As the author of a series of Space Marketing books and as the host of the Space Marketing Podcast, Izzy House aims to be a voice that helps guide businesses through the concepts of marketing through the lens of space. With an extensive marketing background and three marketing degrees, she turns the lens of marketing onto the space industry. Armed with 20+ years of experience in public affairs, outreach, and marketing, Izzy aims to empower space companies and further their dreams of space exploration.
Izzy launches her new book in the Space Marketing book series — Space Marketing: Spaceports which introduces marketing principles and tactics to the spaceport industry. It provides insights from successful spaceport leaders and ideas on how to initiate a spaceport or other big initiatives.
It is the second book in the Space Marketing book series and addresses communication challenges with stakeholders, communities, and key leaders. It can provide valuable marketing and communication tools for building something audacious like a spaceport.