WALLOPS ISLAND – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today said that NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility is home to American innovation and new jobs on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Senator Mikulski was at Wallops Island to help break ground for launch facilities to support Orbital Science Corporation’s work on the Taurus II space launch vehicle that will be used to resupply the International Space Station after NASA retires the Space Shuttles.

As Chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee that funds science, technology and space exploration, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Senator Mikulski is a long-time champion for investments in science, technology, research and education that lead to American innovation and American jobs.

“Today’s ground breaking is about innovation that leads to jobs today and jobs tomorrow. Keeping America competitive in the world means we must invest in innovation and we must invest in the physical infrastructure that supports innovation,” Chairwoman Mikulski said. “Today is an example of government and industry working together to keep America competitive and creating new jobs today, and new jobs for tomorrow.”

Orbitals’ work on the Taurus II at Wallops will bring $250 million in economic development to the Eastern Shore in the form of new goods, services and contracts for small businesses. Construction of the facilities will create 250 new construction jobs now on the Eastern Shore. The launch site will bring 400 high-tech jobs to the Eastern Shore by 2010.

NASA in late 2008 awarded Orbital Sciences Corporation a contract to operate International Space Station resupply missions from the Wallops Island Flight Facility. Today’s groundbreaking ceremony is the celebration of that announcement and of Orbital’s renovations to launch facilities at Wallops. A new gantry, launch pad, refueling facility and payload integration facility will be ready for testing and operations by mid- 2010.

“As the nation’s only NASA-owned launch site, the Wallops Island Flight Facility is a centerpiece of our space and science infrastructure,” Chairwoman Mikulski said. “This is even more true today with NASA’s investment to make Wallops the home of its space station resupply effort after the shuttles are retired. It means Wallops will be a world-class, international facility, launching critical supplies to our astronauts in space and also launching new jobs and new sustainable economic growth on the Eastern Shore.”

Chairwoman Mikulski is a long-time champion of Wallops Flight Facility. She has put almost more than $35 million in the federal checkbook during the last decade for critical upgrades to Wallops’ infrastructure, including $6 million to make Wallops a hub for broadband service on the Eastern Shore and more than $29 million for launch facilities, which includes $14 million for the Taurus II launch pad. She also has been a strong supporter of two NASA programs that make Monday’s groundbreaking possible – Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS).