With three new cutting-edge anchor tenant facilities and its second phase of development underway, the Houston Spaceport has undergone a full transformation since the city first vowed to reshape Ellington Airport into an aerospace hub in 2015.  In 2018, the Houston City Council approved nearly $20 million in funding for infrastructure development at the Spaceport, marking the beginning of a major multi-phase expansion project. Here’s a look at the spaceport’s transformative journey and where we are today. Phase I  The first phase of Houston Spaceport’s expansion, completed in 2019, included construction of streets, utilities and distribution and communications facilities. The Houston Airport System later appropriated up to $105.6 million to finance construction for three leading aerospace companies, including Intuitive Machines. The three-time NASA Contract winner recently made history with its Nova-C lander Odysseus becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo.  Intuitive Machines opened its $40 million Lunar Operations Center at the Houston Spaceport last year. Spanning 12.5 acres, the new center includes 125,000 square feet of office and production space that will be dedicated to the company’s lunar program and the manufacturing of lunar landers and spacecraft.  The center also offers unique technologies and infrastructure including “mission control rooms to track and manage lunar missions, a propulsion test facility to assess lunar lander engine capabilities and a 3,800 square foot ‘flame range’ facility for testing protocols,” according to Intuitive Machines.  “Houston has always been a city that reaches for the stars, and with Intuitive Machines operating at the Houston Spaceport, our city is poised to shine even brighter in the cosmos,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “Aerospace is more than a source of pride for our city; the innovation here is just another example of why the Houston economy is thriving. Intuitive Machines is fueling high-paying jobs, fostering innovation, and attracting talent and investment from every corner of the world.” Intuitive Machines was recently awarded $2.4 million from NASA to collaborate with Washington, D.C.-based Zeno Power to create a Radioisotope Power System for astronauts travelling to the moon during its lunar night cycle. In 2022, commercial space leader, Axiom Space, broke ground on its 22-acre Space Flight and Assembly headquarters at the spaceport. The new headquarters will be dedicated to the development of the Axiom Station, dubbed as the world’s first commercial space station.  Click to expand The groundbreaking campus will also support astronaut training and feature mission control facilities, testing labs, and a high bay production facility, according to Axiom Space. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in December 2023 to officially open the first phase of the development.  Axiom Space has also been awarded several NASA contracts, including a spacesuit task order to advance the Artemis III lunar spacesuit design for International Space Station (ISS) spacewalking capabilities in low Earth orbit. The new facility focuses on the development and testing of the company’s NASA task order next-generation spacesuit for astronauts to wear while working outside the ISS and on the moon, as well as Collins’ Universal Waste Management System and trash compactor, according to the company.  Additionally, 10,000 square feet of the new facility is dedicated to Houston’s first-ever spaceflight incubator, which enables startups, industry professionals and universities to collaborate to advance aerospace technology and exploration.  The three anchor companies are expected to bring as many as 1,800 jobs to the area in addition to $4 billion worth of contracted work over the next decade, according to Houston Spaceport Director Arturo Machuca.  Phase I of the spaceport also included the opening of San Jacinto College’s EDGE Center in 2021, a 154-acre development offering aerospace training and programs that will drive promising pathways to careers in the industry.  "This is where the next chapter of the rivalry to space will be written by the minds and hands of Houstonians for generations to come,” said Houston Airport System Director Mario Diaz in a press release. “The talent who will learn how to build toward the future of space exploration starts right here at the EDGE Center."  Phase II Expected to break ground in the next 12 to 18 months, the second phase will span 300 acres and include major additions to its infrastructure including a full-length taxiway along Runway 4-22, northwest of the spaceport, according to Community Impact. The new taxiway will allow aircraft to take off and land right next to the spaceport’s anchor companies.  Other infrastructure projects include the construction of a road that runs through the middle of the spaceport, diverting traffic from Space Center Boulevard through the spaceport and connect to Highway 3 and space for hotel, restaurant and retail development. Click to expand According to Community Impact, Phase II includes the establishment of the Aerospace Institute, an extension of the EDGE Center, to connect higher education institutions and its students to the aerospace industry. The Aerospace Institute will involve local colleges, including Texas Southern University (TSU), who recently announced a new two-acre training facility at the spaceport, and further bolster the region’s future workforce by helping students develop crucial skills needed in the industry. Once complete, TSU plans to migrate their Aviation Management programs to this institute to help seamlessly translate their graduates into the Aerospace Industry workforce. Discover more about Houston’s aerospace industry and the Houston Spaceport during the Partnership’s Future of Space event on Thursday, Nov. 7.

NASA and the Texas A&M University System announced an agreement Thursday, Feb. 15, to lease underutilized land in Exploration Park, a 240-acre development at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The A&M System will develop a facility to enable human spaceflight research and development that enables the commercial space economy. The lease agreement will allow the A&M System and others to use NASA Johnson land to create facilities for a collaborative development environment that increases commercial access and enhances the United States’ commercial competitiveness in the space and aerospace industries.  NASA Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, and Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III announced the new collaboration at the AIAA-hosted Ascend Texas (ASCENDxTexas) Conference at South Shore Harbour Conference Center. “For more than 60 years, NASA Johnson has been the hub of human spaceflight,” Wyche said. “Exploration Park will be the next spoke in the larger wheel of a robust and durable space economy that will benefit not only exploration of the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, but all of humanity as the benefits of space exploration research roll home to Earth.” As the home of Mission Control Center for the agency’s human space missions, astronaut training, human health and space medicine, and leadership of premiere human spaceflight programs and missions, NASA Johnson leads the way for human space exploration. Leveraging this unique role and location, Exploration Park will play a key role in helping the human spaceflight community attain U.S. goals for the commercialization and development of a robust space economy by creating an infrastructure that fosters a multi-use environment where academic researchers, aerospace companies and entrepreneurs can collaborate with NASA and solve space exploration’s greatest challenges. “The Texas A&M University System has a long history of supporting space-related research, and Texas A&M University has been a space grant university since 1989,” Sharp said. “This new agreement and planned facility will allow us to build on our space tradition and help us to be a major part of the commercial space economy.” NASA issued an announcement for proposals for use of the undeveloped and underutilized land near Saturn Lane on June 9, 2023, and has just completed negotiations with the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to formalize the lease agreement. The parcel is outside of Johnson’s controlled access area and adjacent to its main campus. NASA will lease the land to the A&M System for an initial period of 20 years, with two additional 20-year options, for a potential total of 60 years. “For the last 35 years, Texas A&M University has honored its space-grant mission by becoming a powerhouse in human and robotic space exploration,” Welsh said. “This agreement enables us to leverage faculty expertise, establish strategic partnerships and develop resources to foster new discoveries, technological innovations and a future workforce that will benefit Texas and the nation. We are grateful to NASA, the Board of Regents and the State of Texas for their vision and support of Texas A&M’s work in space exploration.” In the coming years, NASA and its academic, commercial, and international partners will see the completion of the International Space Station Program, the commercial development of low Earth orbit, and the first human Artemis campaign missions establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars. Johnson already is leading the commercialization of space with the commercial cargo and crew programs and private astronaut missions to the space station. The center also is supporting the development of commercial space stations in low Earth orbit, and lunar-capable commercial spacesuits and lunar landers that will be provided as services to both NASA and the private sector to accelerate human access to space. Through the development of Exploration Park, the center will broaden the scope of the human spaceflight community that is tackling the many difficult challenges ahead.