Blue Origin is expanding its operations on Merritt Island with a $600 million investment that will add 500 jobs and more than 830,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The new facility, part of a project called "Project Horizon," will focus on accelerating production of the New Glenn rocket’s upper stage at the company’s site within Rocket Park, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the expansion Friday, calling it proof that Florida’s business environment attracts top companies. "Florida has created the ideal environment where companies can succeed, scale and keep choosing Florida over and over again," DeSantis said in a press release. The project adds to Blue Origin’s existing 3 million square feet of manufacturing space at the site, which already employs about 4,000 people.
The new facility will be built at Blue Origin’s Exploration Park campus, a sprawling site with dozens of buildings dedicated to space-related manufacturing and processing. The expansion comes as the company prepares to scale up production of its Blue Moon MK 2 moon lander at Lunar Plant 1, a facility opened late last year that is expected to add 1,500 jobs as operations ramp up. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp called the expansion "the latest and most ambitious chapter in our decade-long commitment to Florida." Since 2015, the company has grown to nearly 4,000 employees in Brevard County, according to the governor’s office.
The new jobs will have an average annual salary of $98,000, according to state officials. The facility will be dedicated to constructing the upper stage of the New Glenn rocket, a heavy-lift launch vehicle designed to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. The expansion is expected to bolster Florida’s position as a national leader in aerospace and advanced manufacturing. Blue Origin’s presence on Merritt Island has already drawn attention from industry observers, with the company’s lunar lander project marking a significant step toward NASA’s Artemis program goals.
The project is part of a broader push by Blue Origin to solidify its footprint on the Space Coast. The company’s existing operations include a 3 million-square-foot campus that houses manufacturing, testing, and processing facilities. With the addition of Project Horizon, Blue Origin’s footprint on Merritt Island will grow to over 4 million square feet of dedicated space. State officials emphasized that the expansion will reinforce Brevard County’s role as a hub for aerospace innovation, though specifics on timelines for the facility’s completion were not disclosed in the announcement.