SpaceX has announced plans to invest $100 billion in a new spaceport in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, on 125,000 acres of former Exxon property along the Gulf Coast. Dubbed Starbase Louisiana, the site is expected to begin construction in 2027 and target initial flight operations by 2029.
The facility would be SpaceX's fourth and largest launch site, with five launch complexes containing 10 launch pads, propellant production and storage, power generation, vehicle processing, deep-water shipping capabilities, employee housing and possibly an airport.
Governor Jeff Landry said the project pushes Louisiana beyond $250 billion in new investment and positions the state at the center of the next great frontier. Elon Musk added that the spaceport would help make space travel as routine as flying on an airplane and bring probably 10,000 really exciting jobs to Louisiana, though SpaceX officially projects 3,000 direct jobs and 8,100 indirect jobs over 10 years, with an average annual salary of $92,600.
Following the announcement, SpaceX stock rose about 2% to close at $137.95. The company reported $7.8 billion in Q2 2026 revenue, up 92% year over year, and Starlink doubled active subscribers to 12 million. SpaceX also spent $28.5 billion on capital projects in the first half of 2026, much of it on AI compute infrastructure.
The project faces environmental scrutiny because the site includes sensitive coastal wetlands. SpaceX says it will leave portions undeveloped and partner with Louisiana on coastal restoration. The company has a complicated environmental history, including a 2024 Clean Water Act violation at its Texas launch facility.
The planned Louisiana site is intended to support Starship, SpaceX's fully reusable rocket, and thousands of annual launches for Starlink deployments and missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
