SpaceX announced Monday its plans to launch Starship from Kennedy Space Center later this year while building out more than $1.8 billion in infrastructure in Florida to support two launch sites.

The SpaceX website said Starship operations have been in development at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas, where the SpaceX headquarters is located. The expansion of the program includes a new Starship launch pad complex at Kennedy Space Center this year. The Starship launch operations are designed to increase flight rates of space missions.

DeSantis confirmed Florida’s commitment to support future missions for SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket. “Florida is the present and future of the space industry with leading space companies, like SpaceX, investing in the free state of Florida. We welcome SpaceX’s Starship to our state,” DeSantis said.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has been looking to build new Starship launchpads near its primary launch sites in Florida, as it works in Texas on early development and testing of the next-generation rocket designed to loft bigger loads of satellites into space and put humans on the moon later this decade.

SpaceX to bring Starship operation to Florida in 2025

Starship isn’t just a Texas thing anymore. SpaceX said Monday it’s planning the first launch of its mega-rocket from Florida this year and massively expanding the program there and in South Texas to support additional launches.