Spaceport Colorado Signs Letter of Intent with Rocket Crafters

DENVER (WATKINS), CO—October 10, 2012 (Spaceport Colorado PR) — Front Range Airport, home to the future Spaceport Colorado, signed a Letter of Intent with Rocket Crafters, Inc. for horizontal launch, dual-propulsion, suborbital flight operations at this “remote, but accessible” general aviation airport.

The Letter of Intent outlines a mutual intent to promote and develop Spaceport Colorado at Front Range Airport as the preferred commercial spaceport location in America’s heartland. Upon receipt of a spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration, Rocket Crafters intends to locate certain pilot astronaut and mission specialist training activities at the spaceport. Rocket Crafters further plans to conduct test flights of its planned Sidereus and Cosmos Mariner suborbital flight vehicles between Spaceport Colorado and the proposed Neil Armstrong International Air & Space Center, Titusville, Florida. Rocket Crafters plans to establish offices and specialized support facilities at Spaceport Colorado to support up to eighty (80) full-time high paying jobs.

“Spaceport Colorado is just six miles from Denver International Airport, the tenth busiest airport in the world,” said Ron Jones, Rocket Crafters’ President and Chief Technology Officer. “It’s an ideal location to conduct runway-launched, dual-propulsion (jet-rocket) flight training, suborbital test flights, and scheduled commercial suborbital flights – linking Denver with other major commerce centers in the U.S. and around the world.”

Jones added, “Tomorrow’s commercial spaceports will host scheduled suborbital flights transporting passengers and high-priority cargo over long distances at six-times the speed of current commercial airliners. They will compliment America’s highly developed air transportation system by being located on or near major commerce and transportation hubs like Denver. We applaud the leaders from Front Range Airport, Adams County, and the State of Colorado in taking this bold step and leading the nation in what some call ‘the second Golden Age of Flight’.”

Front Range Airport has 996 acres of developable land adjacent to existing ramps or is master planned to be accessible to ramps and taxiways. Additionally, a 6,300-acre business park is planned for development to support airport-related commercial activities and businesses of all sizes with direct and simultaneous access to highway, rail, and airport services.

Rocket Crafters and Spaceport Colorado will work together to strategically support their mutual objective of obtaining a license from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Space Transportation Development Division authorizing Front Range Airport to operate as a horizontal launch spaceport for the benefit of the State of Colorado and the aerospace industry.

The State of Colorado’s full support for Front Range Airport as the state’s designated spaceport began with Governor Hickenlooper’s December 7, 2011 announcement and the State Legislature’s unanimous approval by both houses of Senate Bill 12-35 which limits the liability of spaceflight activities in Colorado. The governor signed the bill into law April 19, 2012, at a Colorado Space Coalition luncheon during the National Space Symposium held in Colorado Springs.

On September 25, 2012, the FAA announced the award of a $200,000 Space Transportation Infrastructure matching grant to the Front Range Airport Authority. The grant will be used to conduct environmental and other feasibility analyses for a potential FAA Commercial Launch Site Operator’s License.

Rocket Crafters, Inc. Titusville, Florida was founded in November 2010 to develop, manufacture, and distribute game-changing rocket propulsion and dual-propulsion (jet/rocket) suborbital flight vehicle products to the commercial space, space exploration, and defense markets. Suborbital Transport Group, a unit of Rocket Crafters, consults to spaceport developers and operators worldwide. Working with its partners and building upon its human, facility, and intellectual property assets, Rocket Crafters is developing a line of pilot astronaut flight training and long-range suborbital transport vehicles. Its vision is to link the world’s major commerce centers into a global network of commercial spaceport facilities from which air-space carriers operate scheduled high-speed suborbital flights with intercontinental range. For more information, visit www.rocketcrafters.com.