UPDATE: Canaveral Port Authority has delayed the vote until at least the next board meeting, which is next month.
The Canaveral Port Authority votes Wednesday to approve a lease of a 44,000 square foot hanger for SpaceX.
SpaceX lands the first stage booster of its Falcon 9 rocket at sea on a barge, and transports the booster back into Port Canaveral. The private space company is getting pretty good at landing them successfully, so now they need a place to store and refurbish them.
“With SpaceX’s recent progress in recovering first stage Falcon 9 boosters, we’re looking to expand our facilities on the Space Coast to support rocket refurbishment. We appreciate the Port's partnership in our recovery efforts to date and continue to discuss further opportunities at Port Canaveral,” said SpaceX's John Taylor.
SpaceX wants to lease the facility for at least 5-years, at a cost of about $300,000 annually.
It will have exclusive access to a road leading from the Port to the facility in launch days to transport the boosters to the hanger.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the company is ready to get back to launching by next month after an explosion earlier this year grounded the fleet.
