An article in the Saipan Tribune reports that the FAA is considering a “proposed space tourism” project that would be based from the Pacific island’s airport. Is Saipan set to become the next commercial spaceport? Not exactly. According to this article as well as an earlier report by the same newspaper, a Japanese company called “Space Japan”, modeled after Space Adventures in the US, wants to conduct high-altitude MiG flights from the island, like the flights Space Adventures offers in Russia. That would explain why the article mentions that the FAA’s flight standards office, and not the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, is reviewing the proposal. (Saipan is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth.)
[…] The Saipan Tribune reported last week that the local government has approved a plan by a Japan “space adventure company” to lease space at an island airport. The company, Space Japan, plans to use the airport for high-altitude aircraft flights and likens itself to Space Adventures, although it appears that Space Japan doesn’t offer anything else at the present time. (See earlier coverage of Space Japan’s Saipan plans.) […]