Florida’s Space Coast was hit hard during the 2008 economic recession; many of the area’s aerospace and defense companies laid off hundreds of skilled workers. Ten years later, the local economy is once again booming. With the return of aerospace jobs, and an influx of new tech and tourism companies entering the area, and an affordable housing market, some are even calling the Space Coast “The next Silicon Valley.”
High profile companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, among others, have put space exploration back in the national spotlight. As NASA announces new missions to the moon and begins to look to the future on Mars, new start-ups and old names alike are bringing high-paying aerospace jobs to Central Florida by the thousands in what’s been dubbed the new space race.
But aerospace isn’t the only sector that’s growing: the housing market is growing by leaps and bounds, and new construction in the area has more than double over the last 5 years. Port Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Melbourne are growing attractions for tourists with a wide variety of cruises, local shopping, art, and more, breaking records for visitors at any given time in Florida’s history.
Read more about the Space Coast’s economic boom in UPI’s article. If you are planning to visit the Space Coast and are in need of accommodations, give us a call at (321)-784-5046 or e-mail us at [email protected]! Relocating to area? We also do real estate!
Cape Canaveral’s Moon Express was recently selected to complete for up to two and a half billion dollars worth of NASA contracts; which will begin the campaign of getting the nation back to the moon. This activity is followed by a number of different aerospace companies that won NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The last time the space agency landed a spacecraft on the moon was 1972, and they agree that we’re due for another visit. Cape Canaveral is scheduled to see 30 launches in 2016, from a wide variety of vehicles including the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Dragon rockets. The last time the Space Coast saw this level of activity was during the 1960s race to space. With announcements from companies like Blue Origins’ plans to call Cape Canaveral home to their commercial space program, Brevard County is on track to log even more activity in the coming years. As companies like SpaceX set their sights on Mars, and demand for commercial payload deliveries continues to rise, the Space Coast may once again lead the way.
For more information about Cape Canaveral’s launch activity, read Spaceflight Now’s article, this report in the Orlando Business Journal, or Florida Today’s story. For the official launch schedule, visit the Kennedy Space Center’s website. If you are planning to visit the Space Coast and are in need of accommodations, give us a call at (321)-784-5046 or e-mail us at [email protected]!
This September, Blue Origin announced they will be leasing one of NASA’s Cape Canaveral launch pads for their upcoming rocket launches. Blue Origin will join the growing list of commercial spaceflight companies co-habiting Kennedy Space Center, most notably SpaceX and Boeing. Blue Origin will launch their partially-reusable rockets from the Space Launch Complex 36, located in Cape Canaveral. Historically, this complex was home to Atlas rocket launches for over 40 years.
In addition to launching from the Space Coast, Blue Origin has also announced plans to build new rockets and process reused ones locally. While no definitive timeline for their activity has been announced, Blue Origin says that residents can expect to see their launches within the next decade.
Read more about Blue Origin’s plans and the details of the announcement in Tech News World’s article, Planter.org’s blog, or on Blue Origin’s website. If you are planning to visit the Space Coast and are in need of accommodations, give us a call at (321)-784-5046 or e-mail us at [email protected]! Be sure to ask us about our Fall Special, now through November 30!
