The Space Coast is ON THE MOVE

An aerial view of the Blue Origin facility at Kennedy Space Center
An aerial view of the Blue Origin facility at Exploration Park.

March 14, 2019—Industry publication SpaceNews chose the Space Coast as its “Turnaround of the Year” award winner for 2018 and calls the Space Coast an “early front runner” for turnaround of the decade.

With 19 launches in 2017, the Space Coast of Florida the most active orbital launch site in the world.

“To us, one of the clearest signs the Space Coast had rebounded economically is that there is now space commerce on Space Commerce Way,” Brian Berger, the editor-in-chief of SpaceNews, said in announcing the award.

Back when the Space Shuttle Program ground to a halt, the Space Coast began the challenging work required to climb out of what could have been an end game, first capitalizing on its skilled workforce.

According to Florida Trend, “In less than a decade, the region has rebounded by attracting companies such as plane maker Embraer to join longtime Defense Department contractors Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and Harris in Brevard County.”

That was followed by SpaceX and Blue Origin with its New Glenn rocket factory at Exploration Park, Boeing and the Starliner space capsule, Lockheed with its Orion deep-space crew transport system, OneWeb Satellites new factory, and recently Firefly Aerospace, changing the landscape and the potential — now both building and launching is happening from here.

Frank DiBello, Space Florida CEO, says he expects 2019 to be a “big year” for more relocations to Florida.

Today, “if it’s not the No. 1 fastest-growing aerospace cluster in the United States, I would be shocked,” says Philip “P.J.” Anson Jr., CEO of Jensen Beach-based STS Aviation Group, which serves the aviation industry globally.

Source: Florida Trend: https://www.floridatrend.com/article/26396/floridas-space-coast-renaissance-the-private-space-race-is-on