FORKS — The two ambitious engineers who dreamed of privatizing space travel have decided to leave the town they called home since 2002 because of too little investment.
“We’re having to transition out of the Forks location due to lack of funding,” wrote Phillip Storm, co-founder of Space Transport Corp., in an e-mail.
“Our company is in the middle of selling some equipment and figuring out how to tackle [the] privatization of space.
“We’re going to use the proceeds to pay our bills and put the remainder in a company savings account until we figure out our future plans.”
In August, Storm and Space Transport vice president Eric Meier suffered a setback in their pursuit of the $10 million Ansari X-Prize when their 12-foot-long Rubicon rocket exploded upon launch before several onlookers off the coast of Queets.
That set them back in pursuit of the X Prize Foundation’s mega-award, which was intended to spur civilian spaceflight.
The prize was eventually won by a design team on California’s Mojave Desert before the second Rubicon could be completed and tested on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Last year’s experience led the entrepreneurs to rethink their strategy and take a break from their company because of a lack of funds, Meier said in a recent interview.
On Saturday, Meier and local friends John Anderson and Martin Dillon successfully auctioned off most of the company’s tools and machines.
The only major items that didn’t sell were an old computer desk and the Rubicon-II rocket, said Anderson, a Forks-area resident who often allowed Storm and Meier to test their rockets on his property.
He said they will probably store the rocket for possible future launch.
