DeSantis Welcomes SpaceX’s Starship Operations to Florida

...The Gigabay in Florida will stand 380 feet tall. It will be able to support Starship and Super Heavy vehicles up to 266 feet tall and will provide 24 work cells...

-SpaceX Courtesy Photo

Staff Reports

Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis welcomed SpaceX’s decision to bring Starship launch capacities and processing operations to Florida. Starship will be the first rapidly and fully reusable launch vehicle in history, designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

     In support of these missions, SpaceX will construct new launch and landing infrastructure for Starship at multiple pads within NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, pending environmental approval, as well as a new integration facility, called Gigabay, which will have more than 40 million cubic feet of vehicle processing space. The project includes at least $1.8 billion of SpaceX capital investment and will bring an estimated 600 new full-time jobs in the Space Coast by 2030.

     According to the SpaceX website, the Gigabay in Florida will stand 380 feet tall. It will be able to support Starship and Super Heavy vehicles up to 266 feet tall and will provide 24 work cells for integration and refurbishment work, along with cranes capable of lifting up to 400 US tons. Compared to the Megabay facilities in Starbase, currently SpaceX’s largest stacking and integration buildings, Gigabay provides more than 11 times the square-footage for workspace, 19 additional work cells, and more than twice the crane lifting capacity.

     Site preparations for Gigabay in Florida have already begun, with construction targeted to be complete and the facility operational by the end of 2026.

     SpaceX intends to conduct Starship’s first Florida launch from LC-39A in late 2025.

     “Florida is the present and future of the space industry with leading space companies—like SpaceX—investing in the Free State of Florida,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We welcome SpaceX’s Starship to our state.”

      Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s Vice President of Launch said, “SpaceX was founded with the ultimate mission of making humanity multiplanetary, and Starship is the vehicle that will enable us to become a spacefaring civilization. Through this significant expansion of Starship production and launch capabilities in Florida, we’re taking a big step toward achieving this goal, and we are grateful to our partners across the State for their ongoing support.”

     The Governor’s release also stated this project is a significant win for Florida’s aerospace and aviation industry and is the direct result of years of work and collaboration between SpaceX, FloridaCommerce, the Florida Department of Transportation and Space Florida.