HOUSTON – The Houston Airport System and NASA have entered into an agreement to collaborate on the new commercial spaceport being developed at Ellington Field, which means more jobs are coming to the Houston area.
Ellington Airport will soon become home to a commercial spaceport, one of only 10 similar sites in the country.
"This will accommodate things such as the launch of satellites, zero gravity experimentation and, in the future, possible point-to-point traveling. Just imagine getting on a spacecraft here at our spaceport, and traveling in a few hours to another spaceport on the other side of the Earth," Lance Lyttle with Houston Airport System said.
Under the formal Space Act Agreement, NASA will be providing access to a number of the unique capabilities at the Johnson Space Center, including things like safety training, engineering analysis and technology.
"It allows our existing employees to work beyond our borders, and provide their expertise in an industry that is very important to us, the overall aerospace industry," Johnson Space Center Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa said.
The Houston Airport System will be closing on the purchase of a $6.9 million building Thursday. Its officials plan to expand by adding an incubator building, which will house startup companies that can share services like IT and human resources.
Companies will be relocating there, which means job creation.
"With the relocation of those companies, you are looking at really high-tech, high-paying jobs," Lyttle said.
This Spaceport could also lead to space tourism. People have already bought tickets ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 to go up in space for 4 to 5 minutes.
The ultimate goal is to make the Houston Spaceport a focal point for aerospace innovation.