spacetoday.net: SpaceX breaks ground on Texas spaceport

Posted: Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 2:13 PM ET (1813 GMT)
SpaceX groundbreaking in Texas (Office of Tex. Gov. Perry)

SpaceX formally broke ground Monday on its new commercial launch site in Texas, although construction of the facility won't ramp up until next year. The ceremony, featuring local officials, Texas. Gov. Rick Perry, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, took place on the site of the spaceport on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, east of Brownsville and just north of the Mexican border. SpaceX plans to use the launch site for launches of commercial satellites, including commercial communications satellites launched to geosynchronous orbit, but Musk said the site could also be used for non-NASA crewed missions. Musk said that major work on the site will wait until the third quarter of 2015, as the company is currently focused on renovating Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The groundbreaking took place a month and a half after SpaceX confirmed it would locate its commercial launch site in Texas.