SpaceX commits $100B to build world’s largest space base in Louisiana

SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) will spend $100 billion on a 125,000-acre launch complex in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. 

The company and Governor Jeff Landry announced the deal on Tuesday. Elon Musk’s firm has also said that the spaceport will become the largest launch site on Earth.

Where will SpaceX build its new spaceport? 

SpaceX has announced that it will spend $100 billion on a 125,000-acre spaceport that sits on coastal land roughly 50 miles south of Lafayette. SpaceX plans to put five launch pads on the land, and also a mission-control center, office buildings, power plants, a propellant factory, and housing for workers. 

The company calls the facility “self-sustaining,” meaning it will have on-site propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping, and an airport.

Musk announced the plan in a pre-recorded video played to an invitation-only crowd of more than 450 officials and business leaders that he is preparing to build a spaceport that “has only existed in science fiction.”

 On X, Musk wrote that Starbase Louisiana would eventually hold more than a dozen launch towers and support over 30 Starship flights a day.

Groundwork is set to start in 2027, with the first Starship expected to fly in 2029. SpaceX plans to launch thousands of times a year from the site, which is more than at any of its three current locations, including its Starbase headquarters near Brownsville, Texas.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell initially stated that the project would hire about 3,000, then said the real figure would likely be closer to 10,000, based on how the company staffed its Texas operation. Most of those hires would come from nearby, she added, noting that 60 to 80% of workers at the Texas site are local residents.

Governor Jeff Landry, who has centered his first term on landing large industrial projects, called the deal “a pivotal moment for Louisiana” and said it brought in more than $250 billion in new investment. 

Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois traced the deal to a single phone call on February 5 and noted that months of talks had been kept quiet under nondisclosure agreements.

Will SpaceX achieve 1,000 launches a year? 

Shortly before SpaceX’s Louisiana plan, President Donald Trump signed a national security memorandum on August 20 telling federal agencies to make room for more than 1,000 rocket launches and reentries annually by 2030. 

Cryptopolitan reported that the country is aiming to record a fivefold jump from the 178 orbital launches it logged in 2025. The current pace roughly amounts to three a day.

The memo speeds up permits, shares infrastructure, and protects radio spectrum for rockets, but it does not provide any new funding. 

SpaceX has already spent over $15 billion on its Starship program and launches more rockets than any competitor. On Tuesday, SpaceX completed its 100th Falcon 9 launch of 2026. That mission also broke a reuse record, as the booster flew for the 37th time.

Louisiana used new laws as well as money to make the project happen. During the last legislative session, the governor signed bills that give tax breaks to rocket companies. 

These laws also protect them from public records requests and from lawsuits over environmental harm, noise, and lost property value. Around the same time, a federal judge dismissed a case against ExxonMobil, freeing up about 130,000 acres in Vermilion Parish for purchase.

The Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federation, and Pontchartrain Conservancy have asked the FAA to reconsider its plan to pause environmental reviews. SpaceX has also said it will help protect and restore coastal wetlands, work with conservation agencies, and keep part of Pecan Island undeveloped. 

Governor Landry said the project moves Louisiana away from its history of oil and gas extraction. He called it a chance for “a permanent future and lasting prosperity.”