WOOMERA CELEBRATION AND REUNION
Ex-Woomerites please note that April 2007 will mark Woomera's 60th anniversary. The Woomera community is currently planning a celebration and reunion over the Easter weekend of April 6 to 8. Renaissance Tours in conjunction with Sydney's Powerhouse Museum is running a trip ex-Adelaide to Woomera over Easter (contact them on 1300 727 095 for availability of spaces).Rocketplane Kistler is to
receive US$207 million and is now
looking at the first launch of its K-1
vehicle from Woomera in late 2008. The K-1 should be capable of providing
services to the International Space
Station (ISS) as early as 2009. It is possible that astronauts
could eventually be launched from Woomera.
About A$100 million is expected to be
spent on the Woomera launch site with completion planned for late
2007.
This news follows years of uncertainty surrounding possible Kistler launches from
Woomera.
Finance had been a stumbling block for the Kistler project during
recent years. 
Kistler
Aerospace Corporation, as it was called until early 2006, intended
developing
one of the world’s first fully
reusable launch vehicles, the Kistler K-1, and Woomera had been
chosen to be the first site for both the test launches and the first
commercial
launches.
Kistler's intention was for payloads launched from Woomera to be sent to the International Space Station.
The plan called for the vehicle to be launched from Woomera and carry its payload into orbit, after which the upper stage of the vehicle would return to Earth near the launch site. The second stage would return to Woomera about 24 hours later.
Kistler combined with Rocketplane in February 2006 to
become
the Kistler Rocketplane Corporation.
Links: Kistler Aerospace
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Memories of Woomera |
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