Sep 14, 2015

Wyoming's Very Own Spaceport

image via AtlasObscura
In 1994, NASA made the discovery that the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet was going to impact Jupiter. To most, this was an incident of merely academic potential. To the citizens of Green River, it was something more. The town council passed resolution R94-23 "conveying an offer of sanctuary to the possible residents of the planet Jupiter, being in imminent peril" specifically it slapped a sign on their local airfield that renamed is from Green River 48U to the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport.


image via JGsRoadtrip
Seen here, in all its intergalactic glory.

The Federal Aviation Administration even played along, officially changing the name of the airfield to match the new sign. These days however, there is little activity at the site, both terrestrial and otherwise. In 2007, there were a total of  34 aircraft operations, most of which were simple "touch-and-go" flights so that pilots can add intergalactic spaceport to their logbooks.


Though, despite the appearance, Wyoming is still not another planet.

Aside from those few flights, the only other users of the spaceport are rowdy teenagers who use the crude gravel runway as a place to pull some doughnuts with their cars. There are plans in place to expand the airfield to actually include hangars and fuel stations, however given that the facility's one lone windsock doesn't even meet FAA standards, the spaceport has a long way to go.

image via Dynamic-Earth
It's a few steps below your typical Mos Eisley.

If extra-terrestrials do visit earth, there are plenty of other options for spaceports to land at that have slightly more complete facilities available to use. Though the people of Green River are still to this day waiting with open arms for the people of Jupiter to come and visit them.


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