SpaceX blasts onto Brownsville launch site

BROWNSVILLE – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has broken ground on its $85 million commercial satellite launch site at Boca Chica Beach, east of Brownsville. The facility will be the world’s first vertical rocket launch site.

SpaceX plans to create 500 jobs over a ten-year period, and the payroll will exceed $51 million annually. The project will create another 300 to 400 jobs from suppliers moving to the area or expanding in the area.

The State of Texas is providing $2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund along with additional $13 million from the Spaceport Trust Fund to pay for infrastructure development. The Greater Brownsville Incentives Corp. committed $5 million in incentives.

SpaceX already has a rocket testing facility in McGregor, near Waco, that employs 250 people.