How the ‘Space Race 2.0’ Can Benefit Main Street

Written By: Richard Cullen

“We are effectively in a Space Race 2.0.” That is how Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), rightly framed the high stakes in this new era of rapid innovation and global competition. It was encouraging to see Chairman Carr declare this October “Space Month” to emphasize the pivotal role the U.S. space industry will need to play in America’s future prosperity, security and technological leadership.

This proactive, pro-space approach from the new administration comes not a moment too soon, as new investments in space innovation are quickly coming online to secure the path forward for U.S. leadership in space. For example, in Huntsville, Alabama, the local economy is already making gains as the space industry transitions from legacy infrastructure like the International Space Station toward new investments from the commercial sector. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville already employs nearly 7,000 workers, and as MSFC’s Manager of Partnerships and Opportunity Development, Nick Case explains, the shift to commercial space stations is “a chance to grow a thriving economy in space – new business models, new international collaborations and new opportunities right here in North Alabama.”

Over on the Space Coast, business is literally skyrocketing. Brevard County, Florida, is now the nation’s 10th fastest-growing community, in part thanks to billions in new capital investments and hundreds of new full-time jobs from the fast-growing low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite sector, including SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. USA Today reports Brevard’s unemployment rate is now less than one-third what it was in the 2010s when the space shuttle program was winding down. Launches from the Space Coast have already more than quadrupled in just the last decade, and experts say the sky is the limit for the region. Already, Space Race 2.0 is delivering.