New Texas Space Commission plans to spend $350 million to keep industry booming in Lone Star State

The state of Texas has rolled out a new commission that will keep the Lone Star State looking to the stars and boost the aerospace industry.

From west Texas with Blue Origin to the Rio Grande Valley with SpaceX and Houston with Johnson Space Center and the Spaceport, aerospace reaches across Texas with nearly 2,000 companies.

One of the many companies is located in central Texas. Firefly Aerospace will be working on a lunar lander that will set to fly to the moon this upcoming fall.

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"We'll orbit for about a month, and then we're going to touch down softly in the Mare Crisium region of the moon," Firefly Aerospace CEO Bill Weber explained.

A mission the company says was only possible with Texas.

"You get a lot of people who are changing industries who grew up in Texas," Weber said. "Oil and gas make great space professionals."

Weber's now part of the state's new space commission economic board trying to sell the idea to others. "There are a lot of other states coming hard," Weber explained. "There are a lot of other states seeing space as a viable next-generation business."

To slow them down, Gov. Greg Abbott launched a new space commission both on the ground and in space. Abbott shared the news with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara aboard the International Space Station.

"Thank you to the state of Texas for doing all that you've done to support human space flight," O'Hara said.

In 2023, lawmakers approved creating the state space commission. They plan to invest $350 million over the next few years to help with education and company grants.

The commission includes nearly 20 industry leaders, whom Abbott introduced Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center.

He said it's an investment for aerospace and all of us because space impacts our everyday lives.

"It's a green field for advanced communications and technology, for artificial intelligence, for robotics, for biotechnology, for supply chain solutions," Abbott explained.

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If there's one place to keep moving toward the stars, it's the Lone Star State because the reach is already here.

"I don't know if we could find what we have in Texas or any other state in the country," Weber said.

State leaders said there are 150,000 Texans who work in the aerospace industry right now. The number is expected to grow.

A Morgan Stanley study showed that the global aerospace industry is expected to climb into a trillion-dollar industry in less than 20 years. The money the state hopes flows into our area thanks to Tuesday's announcement.

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