A new commercial spaceport has been established in the USA. The Virginia Space Center at Wallops Island, built with the assistance of the state's public and private sector - including a $4.5 million investment by DynCorp - will support launches of Athena, Taurus and Minotaur (converted Minuteman missiles) boosters for orbital and suborbital missions. In the meantime, Japan says that it will build a spaceport on Christmas Island, to be used by the national space agency as a landing base for the proposed unmanned Hope X spaceplane and as a possible alternative site for boosters now launched from Tanegashima.
Source: Flight International
