European Spaceport Operations Analysis Share this article ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Although at present the term "spaceport" may sound unusual to the common ear, in a few years it may become as ordinary a term as an airport. Whilst the linguistic definition of a spaceport means a door to space, from an economic perspective it is a means of development. A recent increase in space transportation in the United States is mainly due to private businesses entering the fray. According to the FAA, at present 9 private US companies operate holding 26 active commercial licenses granted by the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation, their commercial space transportation activities are supported by 11 commercial domestic launch sites (aka spaceports) and one foreign site.