Boeing will expand its presence in Florida by adding technology, engineering and support jobs at the Kennedy Space Center, the aircraft company said in a statement Friday.
Investments will be made to convert the former space shuttle facility, OPF-1, to a facility that would enable the U.S. Air Force to efficiently land, recover, refurbish, and re-launch the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), reusable unmanned spacecraft, the statement added.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida), commenting on the expansion said, it is a “big deal” and “hundreds” of jobs would be created, according to news reports.
“What better place to do it than exactly right in a facility designed to do that?,” Nelson said.
Commenting specifically on likely new jobs from the expansion, he said, an increasing number of space activities will take place at KSC and the expansion is an important part of building up the facility into a multi-faceted one.
Nelson added that, while missions and payloads are classified as top secret by the air force, the expansion is a very important part of the national defense experimental program.
