P.M. BRIEFING : Firm Can Join Aussie Spaceport
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SYDNEY, Australia — The White House has conditionally approved U.S. participation in Australian plans for the world’s first private spaceport, the government said today.
Bruce Middleton of the Australian Space Office in Canberra said the United States would allow Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. to take part in the project.
“This very significantly boosts the chances for the project,” Middleton said.
The Brisbane-based Cape York Space Agency plans to build the $623-million spaceport and hopes to use Soviet rockets to put satellites in orbit by 1995.
United Technologies had to seek U.S. government approval under laws restricting high-technology deals involving the Soviet Union.
The U.S. approval is conditional on the Soviet Union limiting launch activities to the Cape York base in Australia’s northern state of Queensland or another site outside the Soviet Union, the statement said.
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