A law that limits liability for companies that would operate flights from the state’s proposed spaceport will be signed Thursday by Gov. John Hickenlooper at the National Space Symposium.
The global space community is gathering at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs for the annual symposium.
Senate Bill 35 will allow Colorado to capitalize on new commercial space transportation opportunities, according to a release today by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
“The signing of this bill represents our collective next step as a state to testing the limits of space,” Hickenlooper said in a statement.
Colorado continues to expand its aerospace economy. Last year, the state ranked second in private sector space employment.
“While other states have experienced job losses in recent years, our aerospace industry remains one of the strongest pillars of the Colorado and U.S. economy,” said Tom Clark , chief executive of the Metro Denver EDC. “Not only does Colorado rank first in the United States for its high concentration of private aerospace jobs, but since 2006 aerospace employment in Colorado has grown 6.9 percent.”
Hickenlooper announced in December that he had asked the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation to designate Colorado as a spaceport state. A proposed site for the spaceport, which would involve horizontal takeoffs and landings by spaceplanes is Front Range Airport near Watkins.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
