Palm Bay wants to lure space jobs as governor works to relocate NASA HQ to Florida

The City of Palm Bay wants to bring in more space jobs as the governor tries to move NASA Headquarters to Florida. 

Is NASA'a Headquarters moving to Florida?

What we know:

Gov. Ron DeSantis made an announcement at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) earlier this month. He says he’d like to work with the new Trump administration to relocate the agency down south. 

Piggybacking off that announcement, Palm Bay will also consider a new resolution at Thursday’s city council meeting to back the governor’s proposal. 

"They have this massive building in Washington D.C. and, like nobody goes to it so why not just shudder it and move everything down here," said Gov. Ron DeSantis while speaking at a university consortium announcement at KSC. 

DeSantis is eager to get the space headquarters out of Washington. He said he’d like to move it "right here to Kennedy Space Center, and I’m supportive of that."

The idea is also gaining support from local lawmakers in Palm Bay.

"I’ve got a piece of land in the city ready to be built on," said Palm Bay Council Member Chandler Langevin.

Langevin is proposing a new resolution for his fellow council members to vote on Thursday night at their 6 p.m. meeting. 

The resolution states the city is "supporting Brevard County as a permanent location for the command of United States Space Force, NASA, or any government agency headquarters focused on space technology, military technology, and similar applications."

The location Langevin is targeting for development is fenced in land on Minton Road that’s 462 acres of federal property currently run by the Space Force Base.

Langevin thinks it would be perfect for NASA buildings and other new space industries.

"All we’re saying with this resolution is, as a city, we’re here to work with you, whatever we need to do to be proactive with utilities, permitting, etc. We’re here to get the job done if the federal government does want to move in that direction," said the council member. 

Local space experts think other states will push back on the move.

"I think Florida would have to compete definitely with Alabama, probably with Texas," said Don Platt, the director of the Spaceport Education Center at Florida Tech. 

Why you should care:

With this resolution, Palm Bay is showing they want to compete and bring more space industries to their community.

"One of our campaign promises that we made was to bring high-paying jobs to the city of Palm Bay," concluded Langevin. 

Platt says it may also be hard to move NASA out of Washington because they need to be in close contact with Congress to secure funding. 

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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the City of Palm Bay, Palm Bay Council Member Chandler Langevin, and Don Platt, the director of the Spaceport Education Center at Florida Tech.

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