Alors que le tourisme spatial se développe à grande vitesse aux Etats-Unis, il faudra maintenant compter avec la ville de Houston, au Texas, en passe de devenir la capitale de cette innovation majeure. Grande nouvelle pour la ville texane : la Federal Aviation Administration l’a choisie pour accueillir la future base spatiale commerciales des Etats-Unis. Situé au sein de l’aéroport d’Ellington, le futur Houston Spaceport devrait donner un coup d’accélérateur au développement du tourisme spatial et mettre en lumière Houston d’un point de vue touristique. Rappelons que la ville est déjà un pôle économique de la région, notamment grâce à l’exploitation du pétrole et à l’aérospatial, symbolisé par le Space Center Houston, qui est le seul site de la NASA visible par le public. The Houston Airport System consists of three individual airport facilities, which collectively represent a $27.5 billion economic impact to the region. Through commercial air service at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), air passengers in the nation’s fourth-largest city have nonstop flight access to approximately 200 airports located around the world. Handling more than 53 million passengers on an annual basis, HAS stands as one of the busiest airport systems operating anywhere in the world and connects the City of Houston on a global scale. Ellington Airport, located within 15 minutes of downtown Houston, is a joint-use facility handling both general aviation operations and flights involving the United States military, the Department of Homeland Security and NASA. Ellington Airport already supports more than 10,000 Houston-area jobs and carries an annual economic impact of $641 million. That impact is set to become even stronger, now that Houston has been named as home to the nation’s tenth licensed commercial spaceport.