This has all kind of spin off possibilities from improved air service, downtown development,sports, jobs, infrastructure..
SEATTLE, Washington -- Stratolaunch Systems, a new commercial space company announced today by
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen,
will be based in Huntsville, according to the company's website.
The company, which represents a partnership between Allen and commercial space pioneer Burt Rutan, will build what it calls the world's largest airplane to launch rockets bearing medium-sized payloads into orbit.
Board members of the new company include Dave King, vice president of Dynetics; former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin; Rutan; SpaceX Technologies vice president Gywnne Shotwell; and Chris Purcell, vice president of Allen's investment company, Vulcan Inc.
Huntsville aerospace company Dynetics will be responsible for the technical integration of its systems. The ultimate goal of the company is to put humans in space, Allen said today.
Allen, 58, has a personal fortune estimated at $15 billion from his years at Microsoft and later career in investing. He owns the Portland Trailblazers of the National Basketball Association and the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/1...l_allen_f.html
Allen and others in the company said the target market for the company's services will be commercial and government satellites formerly carried into space by the now idle Delta II rocket. Stratolaunch Systems will also be headquartered in Huntsville's Cummings Research Park near Dynetics.