Tag: Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority

With Rocketplane Gone, Does Oklahoma Still Need a Space Authority?

News 0
The late Rocketplane which was to have flown from Oklahoma.

Oklahoma State Rep. David Dank wants to shut down the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority as part of a broader consolidation of government, according to News on 6:

The agency is getting $424,289 from the state this year. Executive Director Bill Khourie’s salary is $86,005. Dank believes the agency should shut down.

(more…)

Oklahoma House Approves Spaceport Bill

News 0

Spaceport bill passes Oklahoma House day after failing
NewsOK

House members reversed themselves Thursday less than 24 hours after voting down an appropriations bill for the agency that funds the Oklahoma Spaceport near Burns Flat….

(more…)

Video: Oklahoma Spaceport Seeking Spaceships

News 0

An interesting interview with Bill Khourie, executive director of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority. OSIDA’s Burns Flat facility has been without a space tenant since Rocketplane moved out about a year ago. However, officials are pursuing some intriguing possibilities:

  • XCOR, which might base one of its Lynx vehicles there;
  • Armadillo, which has been developing a suborbital vehicle and has flown test flights at Burns Flat before;
  • A point-to-point corridor in collaboration with New Mexico’s Spaceport America, presumably involving Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

You can read the accompanying story here.

Oklahoma Spaceport Still Operational Just Without the “Space” Part

News 0
rocketplane
Rocketplane Global recently shuttered its office in Oklahoma - dealing a blow to the state's efforts to create a commercial spaceport.

Despite Rocketplane Woes, Oklahoma Spaceport Remains Operational
Oklahoma Gazette

“We’ve really been concentrating on the aerospace side,” said Bill Khourie, executive director of the Oklahoma Space Industrial Development Authority (OSIDA), which operates the Spaceport. “I made a presentation to Boeing Commercial Aircraft last year. They would like to have us on their list to test flights.”

(more…)

Oklahoma Reconsidering Tax Breaks After Investments Fizzle

News 1

Okla. lawmakers study tax breaks to risky ventures
Associated Press

Businesses and many economists say Oklahoma needs to offer corporate tax breaks to expand its economy and remain competitive with other states hoping to lure new jobs. “For us to be able to bring the quality jobs that Oklahomans long for and deserve, we must have these tools,” said state commerce secretary Natalie Shirley.

(more…)

Funding for Oklahoma Spaceport Questioned

News 0

Oklahoma

Unlike its brethren in California, New Mexico and Sweden, the Oklahoma Spaceport has been keeping a low profile. So low, in fact, that the last update on its website’s News page is dated June 1, 2007 – nearly two years ago.

With its major tenant, Rocketplane Global, struggling to find financing for its suborbital spacecraft, things have been quiet. Far too quiet for at least one member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, NewsOK reports:

(more…)