Company History
After being founded in 1997, employment grew to approximately 200 people at the company's peak in late 1999. A rocket engine test facility was successfully established in McGregor, Texas. Ambitious plans were made to establish a launch pad on Sombrero Island in Anguilla, and to mass produce launch vehicles in the Virgin Islands, but environmentalists were fiercely opposed to these development plans. Despite a number of impressive technical achievements, the company ran into a series of problems, both political and technical. Employee layoffs began in early 2000.
Following NASA's announcement that they would fund research and development of competing launch vehicles under the Space Launch Initiative (SLI), Andrew Beal announced on October 23, 2000 that Beal Aerospace would cease operations. This sudden announcement caught most of the remaining employees by surprise. Although citing NASA's unfair commercial practices as the primary reason for closing, other factors such as development schedule delays, cost growth, and a shrinking commercial launch market, are widely believed to have contributed to Beal's decision to cease operations.
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