We’ve previously discussed here the conflicting accounts of a planned “spaceport” in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which has been fueled by a bill passed by the state legislature earlier this year that creates a Wisconsin Aerospace Authority with the intent of establishing a spaceport in the city on the shores of Lake Michigan. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviews the situation in today’s issue, and continues to get conflicting accounts regarding whether a spaceport is really under serious consideration there. A spokesman for governor Jim Doyle called the legislation “unusual”, but one that did not harm state taxpayers: “It just allows the city and its private funders to explore a far-reaching, albeit long-shot, idea.” (City officials have previously said that their idea of a “spaceport” is as a science museum, not a literal launch site.) However, the bill does given the new aerospace authority the power of eminent domain should it desire to claim land for a spaceport, which worries some lawmakers. Said one state senator who voted for the bill but “confesses to some queasiness” about the prospect of rockets launching over Lake Michigan: “I’m optimistic that there will be enough pressure that if they did seek a permit (to build in the lake)… that the DNR [Department of Natural Resources] and the Legislature wouldn’t allow that to happen.”

An article in this week’s issue of The Economist provides an overview of the nascent space tourism industry, based in large part on events at last week’s ISDC. This is a pretty good overview of the state of the industry, examining the major companies and some of the (largely technical) issues associated with them, such as choice of propellant, staging, and flight mode. Advocates of vertical takeoff/vertical landing vehicles might argue with the article’s assessment that VTVL is “about the most difficult way” to do suborbital flights (in addition to Blue Origin and Armadillo Aerospace, a couple of other companies are pursuing this “weird” approach, including Masten Space Systems and TGV Rockets.) The article also manages to conflate the Rocket Racing League and the X Prize Cup near the end, but otherwise this is a decent introduction to the topic.