Bigelow - Space Florida alliance....

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Biz.Yahoo link....<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>Space Florida and Bigelow Aerospace Join Forces to Explore Orbital Space Transportation Initiative</b><br /><br />Thursday November 1, 2:35 pm ET<br /><br />CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Space Florida, the principal organization charged by the Florida Legislature with promoting and developing Florida’s aerospace industry, today announced that it is teaming up with Bigelow Aerospace, LLC, an entrepreneurial space development company headquartered in Nevada, to explore establishing and contributing to the Florida Space Transportation Initiative. Structured as an investment fund of both public and private financing, conceptually, the Florida Space Transportation Initiative would support the development of a new, orbital space transportation system located at the Kennedy Space Center.<br /><br />Human spaceflight operations are a critical part of Florida’s economy – bringing $1.68 billion into the State annually and employing 30,000. But as NASA plans to retire the current Space Shuttle program by 2010, private-sector driven space enterprises, such as the proposed Florida Space Transportation Initiative, can leverage the State’s expertise and reputation in the aerospace industry while establishing new and robust economic opportunities.<br /><br />The Florida Space Transportation Initiative fund would potentially help finance development and domestic production of commercially built orbital transportation systems for moving crew and cargo to and from Low Earth Orbit (“LEOâ€) in an affordable, reliable and safe fashion. Bigelow Aerospace has already publicly announced that it is prepared to commit up to $100 million in initial support for potential crew-carrying LEO transportation initiatives.<br /><br />“In this exploratory phase, Space Florida, in collaboration with key statewide partners</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>