A Quick Primer On America's Spaceports

09-06-2013 • http://www.popsci.com, By Kelsey D. Atherton

Going to space is getting easier all the time. For anyone willing to trade giant piles of ephemeral cash for a few short minutes outside the atmosphere, here is a handy map of all American spaceports, released in February by the Federal Aviation Administration.

While there are more spaceports proposed, the ones that exist at present are in three rough clusters, which I've helpfully named: Pacific Fringe, South by Southwest, and Central and South Atlantic.

Here's what you need to know about these portals to space.

Pacific Fringe

In the Pacific Ocean are two launch sites: the first is Sea Launch Platform, which was originally a shared Norwegian, Russian, Ukrainian, and American venture. Following a 2009 bankruptcy, the Russian company Energia took over as majority owner. The U.S. still uses this site to launch commercial satellites into space.