Discussions between the Air Force and SpaceX could result in a rocket stage taller than the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse decorating the skyline near Port Canaveral.

The nearly 16-story Falcon 9 booster made history this spring when it became the first orbital-class rocket to be re-used, launching a second mission to orbit and then landing for a second time.

“We think this one sort of has some historic value,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said after the March 30 launch of the SES-10 satellite from Kennedy Space Center. “We’re going to present it as a gift to the Cape.”

Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing, confirmed he would welcome the booster's display outside the south gate to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

“I want it right up front so you can see that we are breaking barriers,” Monteith told FLORIDA TODAY, referencing the Air Force’s 70th anniversary motto. “This is innovation. I think it’s important for everybody to get excited about the space business. And what better way than having something that’s flown in space sitting right outside your gate. So every single morning that our folks come to work, they’re reminded why their jobs are important.”

SpaceX targeting Thursday Falcon 9 launch from KSC and Cape landing

The south gate is near SpaceX’s Launch and Landing Control Center and a rocket refurbishment facility at nearby Port Canaveral. It's also near the Air Force's publicly accessible Sands Space History Center, and would be visible to cruise ships visiting the Port.

Important issues still need to be sorted out, like making sure the stage would be safe there in a hurricane.

A Falcon booster stands 162 feet tall on its four landing legs, or 156 feet tall without them — slightly higher than the 151-foot lighthouse up the coast that dates to 1868, according to the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation.

If the rocket is not safe there, or would need costly modifications, another site could be chosen.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, run by Delaware North, has made its interest known.

Wherever the historic booster ends up, it may not be long before more become available.

The planned mid-June launch of a Bulgarian satellite will be the next featuring what SpaceX calls a “flight proven” first stage.

The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which could debut later this year, will feature two used boosters on either side of a new core stage. And SES, the Luxembourg-based satellite operator that took the first chance on a reused rocket, might do so again before the end of the year.

Musk says Falcon boosters should be able to fly 10 times with minor refurbishment and as many as 100 times with more work. He hopes to see the time between flights reduced to a day.

Reusable Falcon 9 rocket is a triumph for SpaceX's Elon Musk

A belief that reusable rockets will drastically lower launch costs is central to Musk’s long-term goal to colonize Mars.

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Blue Origin, also sees reusability as essential. Blue Origin has reused a suborbital rocket and within a few years hopes to launch larger rockets from the Cape, landing the reusable first stages at sea.

For SpaceX, the Cape booster would bookend another — the first one it landed intact, in late 2015 — that stands outside company headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

If placed near the Cape’s south gate, the Falcon stage could join another historic artifact long displayed there, a Navaho missile. Battered by Hurricane Matthew, the Navaho is undergoing restoration and may be relocated.

The SpaceX rocket, Monteith said, "is part of our current history."

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.