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Arizona county may be landing site for capsule; Dugway Proving Ground also a possibility

Bisbee, Ariz. • Cochise County officials don’t have to consider possible emergency responses or road closures when thousands of migratory birds drop in on the Willcox Playa every year.

Not so with Boeing Corp.’s plan to use the flat desert grassland in southeastern Arizona as one of five preferred landing sites in four states for its new reusable space capsule.

Members of the county Board of Supervisors briefed Tuesday by Boeing representatives and county officials about the plan were told that parts such as heat shield doors might be jettisoned from the parachuting capsule and that a Boeing contractor would clean up hazardous materials.