ICYMI: Governor Ron DeSantis Announces $600M Blue Origin Manufacturing Expansion, 500 High Wage Jobs

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a landmark expansion of Blue Origin's Rocket Park campus at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport-a $600 million capital investment on Florida's Space Coast. Blue Origin is currently the only company to manufacture and launch rockets from Florida. The project will leverage the Spaceport Improvement Program (SIP) to support construction of an estimated 830,000-square-foot upper stage manufacturing facility at Rocket Park-directly increasing the volume and mass that can be delivered to orbit from Florida.

Blue Origin's new facility will support 500 aerospace jobs with an average salary of more than $98,000, and Blue Origin's commitment to aerospace job creation and investment in Florida follows uniquely strong, record-breaking job performance data for April 2026's job numbers, including:

• In April 2026, Florida's total nonagricultural employment reached a record of 10,032,900 jobs.

• In April 2026, Florida's labor force reached a record of 11,150,000.

"Blue Origin's expansion is proof that when you get the fundamentals right, the best companies bring their best jobs to you," said Governor Ron DeSantis. "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."

"Project Horizon is the latest and most ambitious chapter in Blue Origin's decade-long commitment to Florida," said Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin. "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."

"Space Florida's charge has always been to think long-term: to make investments today that position our state for leadership tomorrow," said Jeanette Nuñez, Chair, Space Florida Board of Directors. "Adding another Blue Origin project to our roster is that vision brought to life, and it reaffirms Florida as the world's premier destination for aerospace."

"Florida continues to make deliberate, long-term investments in infrastructure to strengthen our transportation system and grow our economy," said FDOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. "The Spaceport Improvement Program demonstrates that strategy in action, supporting projects that advance innovation and long-term growth across Florida's spaceport system."

"Under Governor DeSantis' leadership, Florida is a national leader in aerospace innovation and advanced manufacturing, and Blue Origin's expansion at Cape Canaveral further strengthens the state's position as the premier hub for the future of space commerce," said Florida Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly. "Blue Origin's latest investment into Florida's Space Coast not only supports high-wage job creation and strengthens Florida's aerospace workforce, but it reinforces the long-term economic impact of strategic infrastructure investments across our spaceport system."

"This latest Blue Origin project is the latest validation of The Florida Model and strengthens what makes Florida truly unique: our ability to support the full lifecycle of launch," said Col. Rob Long (Ret.), President and CEO, Space Florida. "When a company can design, build, and launch from the same state, it creates efficiencies that are hard to replicate anywhere else. Blue Origin continues to choose the state that has spent more than a decade systematically building the conditions for them to scale here."

A partnership between Space Florida and FDOT, the SIP has funded 48 major infrastructure projects since 2012, leveraging more than $531 million in state investment to attract $3.3 billion in private industry funding across Florida's spaceport system.