XCOR Set To Bring Space Flight To Midland
By: Katiera Winfrey
Updated: July 10, 2012
Last week, the public was first made aware of the potential plane between the Midland Development Corporation and XCOR.
Laura Roman with Midland Development Corporation said, "We have the perfect climate for it, we have a great business climate for this type of industry to come in and just everything fell into place."
XCOR and the MDC officially announced XCOR Aerospace's move to Midland to a hanger full of people. This event marked the end to several months of negotiations.
"This was actually a pretty quick deal for economic development," said Roman.
The MDC and XCOR first came together in February, to contemplate the push to bring an aerospace facility to Midland International Airport.
Roman said, "The right pieces were in place so that when the right company came to us we were ready to make it happen."
Texas Governor Rick Perry was at the announcement. He said, XCOR moving its headquarters from California is just one of many companies making the move to the Lone Star State.
"The reason people have moved to Texas in record number over the last decade is because we have created a climate here in which private sector business can keep more of what they work for and government basically gets out of the way and lets them do their job," said Perry.
XCOR considered a number of cities as they prepared for expanded research and testing of their rockets and spacecraft. They said Midland is an ideal place for space travel due to the large amount of extra space, the low population, and the airport flight patterns.
As it relates to that notion, Perry said, "I think Texas sells itself now."
This move is just one part of potentially having a larger space flight industry presence in Texas. Blue Origin has been looking at setting up a spaceport Near Van Horn. Perry said the state is still working to get Space X to set up a major facility near Brownsville.
