Gov. Rick Perry will attend as SpaceX breaks ground on the state’s southernmost tip for the company’s first commercial site for orbital launches. The Monday ceremony will mark the start of construction of the $85 million site at Boca Chica Beach, east of Brownsville. The site will be used to launch commercial satellites.
Perry is providing $2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund toward the project, and the state offers another $13 million from the Spaceport Trust Fund to pay for infrastructure development. California-based SpaceX is expected to create 300 jobs at the site. The company already has a rocket testing facility in McGregor, in Central Texas, that employs 250 people. SpaceX says it plans 12 launches a year from the South Texas oceanfront site.
