Blue Origin is considering purchasing the 700-foot-long balloon-manufacturing structure formerly used by the defunct Space Perspective tourism company at Space Coast Regional Airport.
“They have an eye on the tent out back. So they’re in negotiations with the new Space Perspective owners, which I think will be a win for us,” Director of Airports Kevin Daugherty said during the Thursday, June 18, Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority board meeting.
Blue Origin consultants were expected to visit the site on June 19.
Executives at Space Perspective, a high-profile startup that once employed nearly 140 workers, had planned to craft enormous balloons inside this large building to lift passengers 100,000 feet above Earth inside pressurized “space lounge” capsules. Proposed cost: $125,000 per ticket for a six-hour journey.
But instead, the cash-strapped company largely ceased operations by January 2025 while owing the Titusville airport $90,295 in unpaid rent at three properties. The airport authority won a final court judgment for eviction and possession against Space Perspective, its former tenant, in March 2025.
Now, per agenda records, rapidly expanding Blue Origin is working with airport officials to identify potential locations for future manufacturing and bulk outdoor storage operations. Discussions are preliminary, and they deal with available land, access, utilities and compatibility with surrounding airport uses.
Located on Bristow Way, Space Perspective’s white 49,000-square-foot, custom-built fabric-walled “balloon factory” boasted twin 600-foot-long production tables and electrical, lighting and fire protection systems, an airport licensing agreement shows.
Daugherty said the airport is negotiating a 24-month license agreement with Blue Origin that essentially serves as a ground lease. After that period, the company would remove the tent structure.
On May 22, state officials announced Blue Origin will launch a $600 million expansion at its Merritt Island rocket-manufacturing complex, creating 500 jobs with average salaries exceeding $98,000. Key to the expansion is a new 830,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for upper stages of New Glenn rockets.
But six days later, a New Glenn exploded during a prelaunch static-fire test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — inflicting widespread damages across Blue Origin’s Launch Complex 36. Crews are rebuilding the complex, and CEO Dave Limp announced the company will launch before year’s end.
Space Perspective prototype capsule sitting outdoors
Thursday’s TCAA meeting took place inside the airport-owned Bristow Way building that Space Perspective had rented as its “mission control” headquarters. In August 2023, media reporters and photographers walked through these offices past company employees and workstations to attend the adjacent balloon factory’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
During that event, company officials touted the 700-foot-long structure as the world’s first facility designed to routinely build human-flight space balloons.
In September 2024, Space Perspective launched its uncrewed prototype Spaceship Neptune pressurized capsule from the deck of a ship in the Gulf of Mexico on a 100,000-foot-high test flight into the stratosphere before splashing down for recovery.
The capsule is now sitting on a wheeled stand behind airport fencing outside the former balloon factory. On April 1, the TCAA inked a license agreement with WL Space LLC, a Winter Park corporation, for Space Perspective’s former assets. After negotiations, Daugherty said the airport authority received $120,000 to cover back rent, and WL Space LLC had 120 days to remove all property.
After Thursday’s meeting, Daugherty said he did not know the status of the capsule’s removal.
In another space-industry development, Daugherty told the board staffers recently met with SpaceX’s new external affairs manager. Per the agenda, this was “an introductory discussion regarding opportunities at Space Coast Regional Airport.”
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, where he has covered news since 2004. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin eyes Space Perspective’s former balloon factory in Titusville
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rick Neale, Florida Today | USA TODAY Network
