Spaceport status OK’d for Homestead Air Reserve Base

Cape Canaveral is losing Florida’s corner on space exploration with the designation of Miami-Dade’s Homestead Air Force Base as an official spaceport.

After both houses of the state legislature unanimously passed a bill in March expanding Florida’s spaceport territory to include Homestead Air Reserve Base, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law this month. It takes effect July 1.

The law also covers a new spaceport at Tyndale Air Force Base in Bay County on the Gulf of Mexico in the Florida Panhandle, 12 miles east of Panama City.

Both fledgling spaceports will be under the jurisdiction of Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development authority. The concept of spaceports was developed in the 1960s and 1970s. The first official facility, Spaceport America, opened in New Mexico in 2006, becoming the third US state, after Florida and California, to launch humans into space.

A spaceport coming to Miami-Dade County breaks the state’s northeast monopoly on such facilities. Currently there are three spaceports in the state: Cape Canaveral and the adjacent Space Florida Launch Complex, and the Kennedy Space Center near Orlando.

“Space Florida has attracted $2.14 billion in private investment for space transportation projects,” announced Rob Long, CEO of Space Florida, “and this legislation will serve to further expand Florida’s space transportation capacity and bolster related infrastructure investment statewide.’”

The bill was sponsored by 38th District Sen. Alexis Calatayud and District 2 Sen. Jay Trumbull.

No timetable for Homestead becoming an official spaceport has been announced, but it is expected to “attract new and diverse aerospace companies, driving economic growth and private investment in new regions and contributing to the enhancement and resilience of our military bases,” according to Mr. Long.

“Florida is undoubtedly leading the charge,” Mr. Long said, “and is well positioned to remain a global leader in an integrated space-earth economy.

“With the passage of this legislation, we can address the needs of a growing industry and make strategic infrastructure” investments, he added.

Space Florida reports that:

■A recent 10-year analysis showed that Florida’s aerospace sector grew 41% in employment.

■Since 2007, Space Florida has been responsible for nearly 20% of the aerospace workforce across the state.

■Space Florida is projected to have a $1.1 billion annual economic impact over the next five years alone, up from the $5.5 billion total impact over the last 15 years.

■Last year, Space Florida partners delivered about 2 million pounds from Cape Canaveral to space, a 66% increase over the previous year.