McAuliffe calls for full financial review of spaceport deal with Orbital

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McAuliffe calls for full financial review of spaceport deal with Orbital

Posted: Wednesday, November 5, 2014 10:30 pm

By MICHAEL MARTZ Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has ordered a fresh look at the financial arrangements between a Virginia spaceflight authority and the private company that was responsible for a failed rocket launch from a state-owned pad on the Eastern Shore.

McAuliffe expressed concern this week over the state’s apparent financial liability for damage to the pad at the Wallops Island space facility under a memorandum of understanding between the Virginia Commercial Space Authority and Orbital Sciences Corp., as well as the state’s ongoing budget support of the authority and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, known as MARS.

“I want to have the full financial analysis of the deal,” the governor said after voting on Election Day. “I want to understand how we get to financial sustainability.”

Orbital said the failed launch and subsequent destruction of the $200 million Antares rocket Oct. 28 did not cause extensive damage to the $150 million launch pad, which was built with about $100 million in state bond proceeds. It has not released an estimate of the damage to the pad, which is self-insured by the state authority.
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