Look for Blue Origin to build a $600 million expansion of the space company’s sprawling Rocket Park manufacturing complex on Merritt Island, supporting 500 aerospace jobs with average salaries topping $98,000.
Labeled Project Horizon, this expansion will feature an estimated 830,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for upper stages of heavy-lift New Glenn rockets.
“Blue Origin’s expansion is proof that when you get the fundamentals right, the best companies bring their best jobs to you,”Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a May 22 press release.
“Florida has created the ideal environment where companies can succeed, scale and keep choosing Florida over and over again — promoting growth that reinforces the state’s position a national leader in advanced manufacturing and aviation and aerospace — bolstering Florida’s Space Coast and beyond,” DeSantis said.
State officials say Blue Origin is the lone company that manufactures and launches rockets from Florida. New Glenn rockets — each standing taller than the length of a football field — are built at Rocket Park, then trucked about nine miles to the southeast to Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to lift off into orbit.
“Project Horizon is the latest and most ambitious chapter in Blue Origin’s decade-long commitment to Florida,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in the press release.
“Since 2015, we’ve scaled to nearly 4,000 employees, invested more than $2.3 billion across 500 Florida suppliers, and expanded to 11 sites across Brevard and Orange Counties. And we’re just getting started,” Limp said.
FLORIDA TODAY reported on the future Project Horizon in March, based on documents filed with the St. Johns Water Management District. Blue Origin applied for permitting to build and operate a stormwater management system for the 60-acre project.
The land in Exploration Park is owned by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and Space Florida is listed as a Project Horizon co-applicant.
St. Johns Water Management District officials issued a permit on March 26.
FAA clears Blue Origin to launch after mishap
Blue Origin marked its third-ever New Glenn launch on April 19 from the Space Force installation. The huge rocket’s 188-foot first-stage booster — nicknamed Never Tell Me the Odds — notched its second consecutive landing atop Blue Origin’s drone ship Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.
However, the rocket’s upper stage failed to deploy AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite in its intended orbit. The satellite was lost, and the Federal Aviation Administration required a mishap investigation. Neither injuries nor public property damages were reported.
The FAA closed the Blue Origin NG-3 investigation Friday and cleared the rocket to resume flights. Blue Origin has yet to announce details of its next mission.
“The FAA oversaw and accepted the findings of the Blue Origin-led investigation. The final mishap report identified the direct cause of the mishap as a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line and led to a thrust anomaly during the second stage engine burn,” an FAA statement said.”Blue Origin identified nine corrective actions to prevent reoccurrence of the event. The FAA will verify that Blue Origin implements corrective actions prior to the launch of the next New Glenn mission,” the statement said.
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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 announces $600M Florida expansion, FAA clears New Glenn for launch
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
