By JOSH FRIEDMAN

The Paso Robles City Council this month advanced plans for the creation of a commercial spaceport in the North County city. [Tribune]

Paso Robles is currently preparing to apply for an FAA spaceport license, which would permit the city to transform its underused airport into a commercial spaceport. Contractor Tartaglia Engineering is assisting the city with the preparing for the licensing process.

On June 7, the council voted 4-0 to approve a budget of up to $140,000 for the next stage of the licensing application process, which will involve research, communication with local authorities and visualizing more concepts of the spaceport. Council members and investors say the spaceport would diversify Paso Robles’s economy, which is mostly based on wine and tourism. 

Currently, there are 14 approved commercial spaceports in the United States, only one of which is in California. The lone commercial spaceport in California is located in the Mojave Desert.