In 1953, jet flight experts were struggling to understand why a number of Comet airliners had inexplicably crashed, throwing the entire prospect of commercial jet air travel into doubt.
Within a couple years, Mealling expects the country's spaceports to be supporting one or two commercial spaceflights per day, a daunting prospect for launch ranges that currently handle a flight about every other month.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and defence union Prospect pledged to fight the plans which they warned would force skilled staff to leave the civil service.
In the longer term, the board will look at the possibility of bringing in a commercial operator and Mr Jones also opened up the prospect of the airport looking to attract long haul and transatlantic flights.