Sir Richard Branson was looking for a city to launch Virgin Galactic. It would have been cool to be the first city in the world to have the first spaceport to send passengers into space on a regularyly scheduled basis. Since he has a home in Miami, I thought maybe that city had a chance. Florida, afterall, is where science fiction first launched a man to the moon in Jules Verne's "From The Earth To The Moon" (1865). Verne figured the best and safest spot on the planet was Tampa. That's because Miami was still only a word in Miccosukee that meant "that place," a trading post at the mouth of a river. Well, Miami could have become "that place" for regularly scheduled flights into space out of Miami International Airport if city, county, and state reps had made an effort to persuade Sir Richard to launch his new enterprise there. Unlike the rocket launches at Cape Canaveral-- which ironically are directly opposite Verne's Tampa launch site-- Virgin Galactic will take off and land on an airport runway. Although the flights are sub-orbital, it's still space, man. Instead, the state of New Mexico trumped all the major airports by providing 27-square-miles of state owned scrub, cactus, and desert and $200 million to build the world's first spaceport. Called Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic considered the site "ideal" because, among other factors, it has "low population density." Now, I don't know about you, but that's not something I would consider being important if regularly scheduled space launches will be as routine as boarding a plane and flying to say, Albuequrque (which I hear is in New Mexico-- where ever that is). Still, if that is part of the criteria of landing the first spaceport, Miami could have met that requirement. It has the Atlantic to the east and the Everglades to the west. In fact, it even has a single runway already waiting for it out there in the swamp. It was the only thing built during the seventies when Miami was constructing a "Jetport" to relieve air traffic at MIA. That plan got shot down by environmentalists but the runway has been used ever since for emergencies and pilot training. Another thing that would have made basing Virgin Galactic in Miami a success would have been the synergy developed from the megayacht marina that will be built in downtown Miami. Think about it. At $200,000.00 a pop, you and I probably won't be able to afford these flights, but the people who can also can afford megayachts (100-feet and longer). A Miami spaceport would have attracted them to Miami where they could catch a rocket into space and return in time to board their yachts to watch the sun set behind the new towers fronting Biscayne Boulevard. Going into space from New Mexico? First tell me where it is and then how many mules it will take to get me and my luggage to the launch pad. |
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