Space Industry Continues Growth in Brevard
(From Florida Today) June 12, 2025 – High-tech space and aerospace industries have mushroomed and flourished across Florida’s Space Coast — to magnitudes few could have predicted — since NASA mothballed the space shuttle program after Atlantis’ final flight in July 2011.
Think billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — the two richest men in the world — and their respective companies SpaceX and Blue Origin. And national defense contractors like L3Harris Technologies, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.
Viewed on a chart, Brevard County’s annual aerospace-aviation workforce statistics show “a hockey stick of job growth” climbing upward in recent years, said Mike Miller, Space Florida vice president of external affairs, speaking during an April 22 Melbourne Regional Chamber presentation.
The two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle lifts off Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. (Image Credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Sandra Joseph)
Example: Brevard County’s workforce in that sector practically doubled during the brief span from 2017 (7,847 workers) to 2023 (14,828 workers), Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast records show.
And SpaceX is delivering a mammoth program now under construction: The gargantuan Starship-Super Heavy rocket system is coming to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Economists expect at least $1.8 billion in projected capital investment and 600 new full-time jobs by 2030.
“It’s a very exciting time, just as it was back in the ‘50s and the ‘60s,” said Robert Taylor, a Florida Institute of Technology history professor.
“Someday, when Americans actually make the trip back to the moon — or the ultimate trip to Mars — they’ll start right here in Brevard County,” Taylor said.
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