Who knew that Oklahoma had a spaceport! I certainly did not know, but there is a lot that I do not know. I guess I'll have to keep learning. Until then, if you have a spaceship, you might want to check out the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority's Clinton-Sherman Airport as a potential home for your spacecraft.
A swath of gray concrete, nearly three miles long and double the width of a normal runway, the landing strip seems to stretch into oblivion.
It's the Oklahoma Spaceport's No. 1 asset.
The ramp alone is made of 96 acres of concrete large enough to accommodate 42 parked Boeing 747s. The runway was constructed to allow a pack of B-52 bombers, each loaded with nuclear weapons and a full tank of fuel, to take to the skies in formation.
But some have more modern plans for the runway and its facilities plans not yet realized.
Though a sign on the control tower declares "Oklahoma, the Gateway to Space," so far, no rockets have departed Burns Flat destined for space.
Bill Khourie, executive director of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, believes that will change. He points to a growing commercial space industry expected to take off this year when NASA retires its fleet of space shuttles.
Source: WJTV-Jackson, MS
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