A bill currently in the California State Senate would provide a multimillion-dollar loan to aid the development of the spaceport at Mojave Airport, site of the historic SpaceShipOne flights and home to a number of commercial space ventures. The bill, SB 1671, would appropriate $11 million in the form of a 30-year loan to the East Kern Airport District, which operates the airport, “to construct the Mojave Spaceport Terminal and for associated infrastructure to support advanced research and development along with commercial operations.” The bill has the support of the California Space Authority, which recognized the competition from New Mexico in a letter to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Roy Ashburn. “New Mexico has agreed to ante-up $100 million in capital spaceport infrastructure support. This is a direct hit against the Mojave Spaceport and other commercial spaceport activities in California.”
