Since the early days of 1990, a small yet tenacious group of people have widened into an extensive and cohesive team, accomplishing many firsts in the world of space business - the development and operation of a privately financed, international, commercial space launch facility. SpacePort Canada - is located at the former Churchill Research Range on the Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba. The SpacePort will re-establish the facilities where over 3500 sounding rockets were launched between 1957 and 1989. The first phase of construction, involving the refurbishment of existing sounding rocket facilities, was started in July 1994 and concluded in November 1994. The remaining phases of the project involve further expansion of existing facilities and the construction of two new launch pads. The pads, capable of supporting rocket launches to place satellites weighing between 1000 - 4000 pounds into low earth orbit are designed to accommodate a variety of international vehicles. In addition to these facilities, buildings to support satellite processing, mission control and administrative support will be constructed. The SpacePort, created by Akjuit Aerospace Incorporated of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and managed by Raytheon Engineers and Constructors of Denver Colorado, will be capable of supporting launches carrying small satellite payloads in mid 1996. These satellites typically provide communications, remote sensing and environmental monitoring services. To date, twenty competing satellite consortia have announced plans to launch more than 1300 satellites to provide these services. SpacePort Canada is designed to fill a void in the current launch market - the world\u27s first commercial spaceport, capable of launching several different international rockets from the same location, utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, buildings and launch facilities, combined with a highly competitive pricing structure
