James Dean

FLORIDA TODAY

Work to ready a dormant Cape Canaveral launch complex for flights of Blue Origin rockets would receive a $17 million boost from the state under Gov. Rick Scott's proposed $83.5 billion spending plan, unveiled Tuesday.

The governor's office said the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year starting July 1 includes $34 million for launch complex improvements that "will help attract more commercial activity to the area."

Space Florida confirmed the total includes $17 million from the Florida Department of Transportation to help prepare Launch Complex 36, a state-run pad last used in 2005, into a site for Blue Origin's giant New Glenn orbital rockets. The company also plans to build an engine test stand, incorporating the adjacent Launch Complex 11.

Blue Origin, the private space firm started by Amazon.com's billionaire founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, will match the state's investment, resulting in the $34 million budget figure cited by the state.

Bezos and Scott in September 2015 visited Launch Complex 36 to announce Blue Origin's plans to build and launch rockets locally.

"The pad has stood silent for more than 10 years — too long," Bezos said then. "We can't wait to fix that."

By early next year, Blue Origin is expected to finish construction of a 750,000 square foot manufacturing facility at Kennedy Space Center's Exploration Park, which is managed by Space Florida.

There the company will build the stages for New Glenn rockets that will fly in two versions standing 270 feet and 313 feet tall, designed to launch astronauts and satellites.

State and local government agencies have pitched in $18 million to that project, including $10 million from the Department of Transportation and $8 million from the North Brevard Economic Development Zone.

In total, Blue Origin is expected to pump more than $200 million into the new facilities here.

The Department of Transportation for a number of years now has contributed roughly $20 million annually for space infrastructure, often requiring matching funds. Other beneficiaries have included Boeing, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

Blue Origin has flown multiple unmanned test flights of its suborbital New Shepard rockets in Texas, landing the vehicle's booster four times. The company hopes to launch the much larger New Glenn by the end of the decade, again with plans to recover and reuse boosters.

Gov. Scott's proposed budget includes a $19.5 million request for Space Florida, identical to the agency's current budget. The total includes $10 million for operations, a $7 million financing fund to help attract new business, $1.5 million to market space-related tourism and $1 million to continue a research and development partnership with Israel.

The state Legislature's 2017 session to debate and approve next year's budget begins in March in Tallahassee.

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

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