Adams County will receive the 11th license in the United States to operate a spaceport, according to a news release distributed on Friday afternoon.
The Federal Aviation Administration granted the county north of Denver the license after a 180-day review period. This designation would allow vehicles to make horizontal takeoffs and landings at the former Front Range Airport site.
According to the news release, the vehicles at the spaceport would launch like traditional planes, but then fly on a special-use airspace where rocket boosters launch the craft into suborbital flight.
This is only the first step in a long process, though.
Space companies will have to apply for licenses to actually use the spaceport, and then the aircraft that take off from there would also have to receive a license.
A news conference on Monday will reveal the name of the facility at the airport in Watkins, as well as additional information, the news release said.
