MARS PR — Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell visited the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island on October 17th. During the governor’s campaign, he set a goal to make the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport the top commercial spaceport in the country, calling for a 10-fold increase in base funding for the spaceport operations. More than 16,000 rockets have launched from the Wallops Flight Facility over the last 55 years. This year, Governor McDonnell signed Senate Bill 1447 to direct revenue generated by commercial spaceflight to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority to develop Wallops Island as an even more attractive spaceport.