Spaceport Cornwall Has No Intention to Offer Space Tourism Flights
22nd Mar 2021Spaceport Cornwall leader, Julian German, appears to be against Richard Branson’s idea to carry out space tourism launches from the facility. Even though Branson’s Virgin Orbit is already a Cornwall resident, the company uses this site for sending small satellites into orbits. Cornwall Airport is a perfect facility for horizontal rocket launches Virgin specialises in. So, the public expected Spaceport Cornwall to become a space tourism hub for Virgin Galactic. However, on 23rd February, spaceport leader Julian German explicitly stated that Newquay has no plans for space tourism.
Public Concerns for Space Tourism from Spaceport Cornwall
Residents living in the Spaceport Cornwall vicinity are concerned about tourism launches in the area. The issue has been taken to Cabinet member for transport Geoff Brown who reassured the locals, explicitly stating that the council has no such plans for the facility. If anything changes in the future, the launches will have to be approved by the council first.
Brown states that space tourism was never an intention for the spaceport. Instead, the facility should focus on small satellite launches and launching rockets into required orbits. Space tourism will need to get approval from the council first, but to date, this issue is not on the agenda.
Newquay councilor John Fitter is also opposed to the idea of tourism from spaceport Cornwall. He claims that the facility does not want this type of launch and has no intention of allowing them. He adds that space tourism is a huge waste of money and resources.
Spaceport leader confirms this statement and states that they have no plans for any space tourism operations from the facility. Fitter adds that offering tourist flights from the facility could send the wrong message to the locals as most of them work minimum wage jobs. So, a multi-million tourist attraction in Spaceport Cornwall would not sit well with the local community.
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