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Texas Officials Quiet On Space Launch Site Project

HOUSTON (AP) – Proponents of a Texas space base reportedly are getting little encouragement from state officials.

Leaders of the Texas space industry are eagerly anticipating the test launch of a private cargo ship to the International Space Station later this month. They hope to persuade Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, to develop a launch site in far South Texas.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tells the Houston Chronicle that Brownsville-area officials have been actively involved in pushing the project forward, but "there's not been that much at the state level."

Texas Space Alliance founder says Texas must "wake up, not just embrace it but get ahead of it."

A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry declined to comment on the state's posture.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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