Rocketplane Files for Bankruptcy

July 8, 2010 at 2:21 pm | Posted in Space Law | Leave a comment

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The Oklahoma Gazette is reporting that Rocketplane has filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy:

. . .The bankruptcy papers were filed June 15, one each for three separate companies — Rocketplane Inc., the parent company, and its subsidiaries Rocketplane Global and Rocketplane Kistler — and a personal bankruptcy filing by French himself. According to the documents, the companies and French ranged in assets of $108,000 to $287,000 to liabilities of more than $8 million. The debtors included vendors Rocketplane had contracted with for services and parts, pending lawsuits and back taxes. Some of the lawsuits are from former employees for breach of contract.

Rocketplane Global was the space tourism company, while Rocketplane Kistler was set up to handle a NASA contract to build a rocket ship for carrying cargo to the International Space Station. The company was awarded the contract in 2006, but NASA pulled the contract a year later due to the company’s failure of meeting financial deadlines. . . [Full Story]

Also see:

Farewell, Rocketplane – NewSpace Journal