CAPE CANAVERAL — The first wealthy tourists rocketing into space from Florida may start their trips in Jacksonville, not the Space Coast.

The Federal Aviation Authority last week approved Cecil Field, a former naval air station about 25 miles southwest of the city's downtown, as a spaceport for commercial launches of spacecraft like Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

"We're extremely excited and very much looking to the future to work with potential operators," said Todd Lindner of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.

State officials said Cecil Field would complement launch capabilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center, not divert business from them as Brevard County looks to expand its launch portfolio in the post-shuttle era.

"This capability - in addition to similar potential sites currently being researched at Kennedy Space Center and in southern Florida - is critical to providing our state with the competitive edge it needs to be a key player in the U.S. space tourism industry," Space Florida President Frank DiBello said in a statement.

Cecil Field's license makes it the nation's seventh commercial spaceport. It permits "horizontal" launches of vehicles that would take off and land like planes at the site's 12,500-foot runway.

Rockets would ignite some 40,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean to begin suborbital flights for passengers paying about $200,000 each, offering several minutes of weightlessness and a view of the blackness of space.

"Initially, the operations will be for your upper-end leisure traveler, the person who wants an exciting ride," Lindner said.

Later, the market could expand to microgravity research flights and launches of small satellites into orbit from motherships.