Aerial Futures Explores Commercial Space Travel at the Houston Spaceport

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A new video by AERIAL FUTURES explores commercial space flight through the Houston Spaceport. The video was produced as part of a broader research initiative bringing together leading thinkers, practitioners and operators to imagine the potential opened up by spaceports. The video explores the spaceport as a new kind of architectural typology, and asks what kind of impact a spaceport is likely to have on the city and its population.

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Reiterating Houston’s long-standing relationship with space travel, Ellington Airport is now home to the Houston Spaceport. The Spaceport is within a 15-minute drive of the central business district, making it the most urban commercial spaceport to date and positioning Houston as the most cosmically connected city in the world. The commercial sector is now driving the aeronautical industry, leading to an upsurge in spaceport construction. The implications of this new typology for urban life are huge: in support of the new spaceport and its operations, Houston City Council recently approved an $18.8 million Phase 1 infrastructure development budget. This sum of spaceport-related infrastructure funding is without parallel anywhere else in the world. New roads, drainage systems and utilities will provide a foundation for aeronautical businesses and foster engineering activities, while providing a physical and intellectual link to aerospace expertise.