Boeing is taking over a former space shuttle facility at Kennedy Space Center and creating new jobs.
But the project they are working on is top secret.
Here’s what we do know. This expansion will involve a complete makeover of a former space shuttle facility, OPF-1. In this newly renovated facility, the U.S. Air Force will be able to land, recover, refurbish and re-launch an unmanned spacecraft known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
Senator Bill Nelson, D-Florida, as a member of our armed services committee, said he has been involved with the program that uses this test vehicle for years. But it’s been top secret. It was only recently that national defense officials, Boeing, and officials at Kennedy Space Center formed this expansion.
It is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the Space Coast, as it will take on a huge role in our national security interests. Senator Nelson described what he could about this unmanned spacecraft, and what it will do.
“When you look at it, it looks like a mini-space shuttle, and its configuration, that’s exactly what it is," Nelson said. "And it has been very successful in the two or three years that it has been flying.”
The exact time frame of all of this is unclear. We are reaching out to Boeing for more information about when exactly this expansion will begin, and when those hundreds of new jobs will open up at Kennedy Space Center.
But Senator Nelson does tell us Brevard County landed this expansion because there is such a strong pool of qualified people already in the area after the shutdown of the shuttle program. Some of those people could become part of this new expansion.