SpaceX to build Louisiana spaceport for Starship rocket launches

The site, which will expand ​Musk’s company’s launch operations for Starship beyond South Texas, is designed to support thousands of flights ​per year, SpaceX said.

SpaceX unveiled plans Tuesday to build a Starship rocket launch complex in southern Louisiana, a $100 billion ​effort poised to transform coastal wetlands into a critical base ‌for the company’s AI satellite launch ambitions.

The 125,000-acre site on Pecan Island, which SpaceX named Starbase, Louisiana, will expand the company’s Starship launch operations beyond South Texas and Florida. It ​will eventually launch thousands of Starship flights a year, SpaceX President ​Gwynne Shotwell said.

SpaceX's Starship rocket lifts off from Starbase, Texas, as seen from South Padre Island on August 26, 2025, for its tenth test flight.Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images fileConstruction will begin next year, with the first ⁠Starship launch in 2029, SpaceX said in a statement. Shotwell detailed the ​plans near the proposed site in Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish at an event ​with Gov. Jeff Landry and other senior state officials.

SpaceX plans to build a “self-sustaining” spaceport with its own propellant production, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities and probably ​an airport, Shotwell said.

The marshland site is more than eight times the ​size of Manhattan. SpaceX has significantly expanded its U.S. South footprint in recent years, having ‌built ⁠a Colossus AI data center in Tennessee and Mississippi and Starlink facilities in Austin, Texas. It is planning a chip plant in central Texas.