Updated 8:25 at 12:53 p.m. PDT: Provided more details about Lindner’s reason for resigning.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Todd Lindner resigned earlier this month as CEO of the Mojave Air and Spaceport at Rutan Field after 16 months on the job.

“Todd has a family member with severe health issues and needed to relocate back to Florida to be near family,” said Jim Balentine, a member of the spaceport’s Board of Directors, in an email.

Lindner had given two week’s notice prior to the Aug. 2 meeting of the spaceport’s Board of Directors, a spaceport spokesperson said. Meeting minutes indicate the board appointed Tim Reid, the spaceport’s director of operations, as acting CEO while a search for a permanent replacement is undertaken. Board members also thanked Lindner for his service.

Funding is provided through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, Space Florida and the Florida Department of Transportation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Gov. Ron DeSantis PR) – Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced $13 million in awards to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority new infrastructure at the Cecil Airport and Spaceport. This funding will support the construction of nearly two miles of roadway and extend the corresponding utilities to provide access to underdeveloped property located on the east side of Cecil Airport and Spaceport. This project will more than double the number of jobs available at the facility, bringing the total number of jobs at the airport and spaceport to 6,251. Of the $13 million in funding, $6 million is from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, $4 million from the Florida Department of Transportation, and Space Florida is contributing $3 million.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Cecil Air and Spaceport PR) — A new 126-foot air traffic control tower and mission control center officially opened for operations in a ceremony at Cecil Air and Spaceport today. The mission control center was dedicated to astronaut Dr. Norman Thagard, a graduate of Paxon High School in Jacksonville.

MOJAVE, Calif. (MASP PR) — A new Chief Executive Officer will take the controls of the Mojave Air and Spaceport (MASP) in April.

Todd Lindner, former Director of the Jacksonville, Florida, Aviation Authority’s Cecil Spaceport , was selected by members of the Mojave Air and Spaceport board of directors from more than 100 applications.

A veteran pilot, Lindner will be the first person with airport management experience to manage the Mojave Air and Spaceport.

“With 30 years of aviation management experience, Todd Lindner understands the unique financial and operating requirements of an air and spaceport,” said Jim Balentine, president of the MASP board of directors. 

Generation Orbit’s planned launch system. (Credit: Generation Orbit)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (JAA PR) — The Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) has signed its first tenant agreement at Cecil Spaceport with Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO).

Atlanta-based GO will utilize Cecil’s hangar space, its 12,500-foot runway and the safe flight paths that have already been coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), among other things, to support its commercial flight and horizontal launch program.

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The Jacksonville Aviation Authority is asking the state of Florida to help fund infrastructure improvements at Cecil Airport to support the operations of micro-sat launch provider that will operate from there. Generation Orbit Launch Services Inc. has selected Jacksonville’s Cecil Spaceport as the primary launch site for its small satellite transport operation. The company plans to put small satellites into space by launching a rocket from an in-flight aircraft. The […]

XCOR Aerospace Announces Operations   and Manufacturing Base in Florida Thursday, August 23, 2012 WHO: Florida Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll XCOR CEO Jeff Greason Space Florida President Frank DiBello NASA-KSC Director Robert Cabana NASA Chief of Staff David Radzanowski U.S. Senator Bill Nelson EDC of Florida’s Space Coast President Lynda Weatherman Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex COO Bill Moore Jacksonville Aviation Authority Sr. Manager of Aviation Planning & Spaceport Development […]

Cecil Field in Jacksonville, recently designated a commercial spaceport.

JAA PR (January 25, 2012) — The Jacksonville Aviation Authority Board of Directors has accepted a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation to conduct an Environmental Assessment, which will examine the environmental impacts and investigate the feasibility of the operation of a Concept ‘Y’ Horizontal Launch – Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) at Cecil Spaceport.

While Concept ‘X’ and Concept ‘Z’ Vehicles take-off using the typical turbojet engines to reach a predetermined location and altitude before igniting a rocket engine, Concept ‘Y’ Vehicles are powered by a rocket engine for the entire span of their operation.

In January 2010, after completing the original Environmental Assessment and Launch Site Operator’s License application process, JAA was issued a Commercial Spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The license allows the airport to accommodate 52 horizontal takeoffs annually of sub-orbital horizontal launch vehicles.

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The Florida Times-Union reports that Jacksonville Aviation Authority will now be able to pursue state funding to upgrade Cecil Field to a spaceport: Space Florida officially designated Cecil as a “Space Territory” on June 9. Getting that designation means the Florida Department of Transportation now has legal authority to fund spaceport-related transportation facilities within Cecil to better accommodate horizontal launch space travel. JAA will now be able pursue funds to […]

The FAA has approved Cecil Field in Jacksonville as a commercial spaceport and will soon issue a license.