FAA Approves New Spaceport in Huntsville, Alabama

On May 14, the FAA approved Huntsville International Airport (KHSV) to operate as a commercial space reentry site, where the Space Shuttle-esque Dream Chaser will begin making reentries from low-Earth orbit (LEO).

The Dream Chaser is the reusable re-entry vehicle designed by Sierra Space to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) program by NASA. The spaceplane could begin landing in Huntsville as soon as next year.

Dream Chaser will operate with two configurations, crewed and uncrewed, both of which will be reusable for more than 15 launches and runway landings. Sierra Space and other commercial space companies will still have to apply for their individual licenses to operate out of KHSV, according to the FAA.

In December 2021, the FAA held a public hearing on Sierra Space’s spaceport proposal, which garnered support from local residents. According to the FAA, Dream Chaser will create a sonic boom upon re-entry, but Sierra Space claims the noise level will be similar to that of a clap of thunder.

“The Huntsville community, of course, has a long history of supporting advanced spaceflight and other aerospace technologies and is fortunate to have an airport with two long runways and advanced safety resources, including crash and response and all that within a vast physical airfield area,” said Mark Spencer, a local resident and founder of Avilution, an avionics company.

Huntsville has long been home to many historic space travel efforts, including NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System (SLS), which is set to make its first trip to the moon this summer.

While rockets and spacecraft may be built in Huntsville, not all the residents are happy to hear that one may be landing there, such as local resident Robert Kendall.

“In Huntsville, we build rockets. We have a NASA engineering type of community, and we love what we do. But we do not launch the rockets from here, nor do we land them here,” he said during the hearing.

Sierra Space has not set a date for the first flights of the Dream Chaser.