Deal for resupply rockets seen as chance for Wallops Island site to take off

By Jacob Geiger

Virginia will serve as the launching site for a new generation of satellite and supply rockets to be launched by Orbital Sciences Corp., beating out a bid from Florida.

The rockets will be sent into space from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced Monday.

The decision could make the spaceport at Wallops, which 18 months ago re-emerged as a viable launch site for private companies, a hub for resupply missions for the international space station.

"This is like an anchor tenant," said Billie Reed, the spaceport's director, "It's a major tenant and a major program."

But before the first demonstration launch can occur - scheduled for late 2010 - the launch pads at the state -

supported spaceport will need a major upgrade.

"We'll be starting almost immediately," Reed said. "One of our launch pads... will be completely rebuilt and strengthened."

Reed also said a new fueling system and rocket assembly structure will be built to prepare Orbital's nearly 140-foot-tall Taurus II rockets for flight.

The new facilities are expected to lead to at least 50 new jobs on the Eastern Shore, and Orbital may hire as many as 75 new employees at its headquarters in Loudoun County.

In February, Orbital won a $170 million grant from NASA. That money and $150 million from the company will be used to demonstrate Orbital's ability to run the supply missions.

A decision on the supply

contract is expected later this year.

Economic development officials in Florida - anxious about possible job cuts at Cape Canaveral when the space shuttle program is retired in 2010 - put together a package to entice Orbital south.

But Orbital spokesman Barry Beneski said Orbital picked Wallops over the Florida launch site in part because the company had sent up other rockets from Wallops.

Beneski said the company could launch four to six Taurus II rockets a year once the program is fully operational. Some of those would be satellite launches while others - if the company wins the resupply contract - would head for the space station.

Orbital has launched two Minotaur I rockets from Wallops with Defense Department satellites aboard, and Beneski said an Air Force satellite will be launched by the company from the site later this year.

The General Assembly passed a $16 million bond issue this session to help Wallops and the spaceport handle the larger rockets.

More than 15,000 rockets have been launched from Wallops since the spaceport was founded in 1945. But for the past decade or so, it has operated in obscurity, incapable of launching larger rockets.

The spaceport is owned by the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority, a state agency similar to airport or port authorities. The state of Maryland also contributes money to the spaceport.

Reed, who is the director of the spaceflight authority, said commonwealth officials have been extremely helpful as the spaceport tried to win over Orbital.

"To get $16 million in a bad, tight budget year is phenomenal," Reed said.

The full upgrade could cost up to $40 million.

Reed said he hopes the state will help out with more money in future years.

Orbital is expected to invest a total of $45 million at Wallops and in at its facility near Dulles International Airport.

The spaceport long has been a small operation, but Reed thinks this contract could be a big step forward.

"This is what everyone dreams of," he said.

Jacob Geiger, (757) 446-2643, jacob.geiger@pilotonline.com