21.03.2026
As SpaceX prepares for its next Starship launch from Texas — the first version of the rocket that will launch from Florida — the company’s massive Starship maintenance facility continues to rise on the Kennedy Space Center skyline.
Its name is Gigabay.
The building's looming metal structure with black siding is easily visible from across the Indian River in Titusville. Situated at SpaceX’s Robert’s Road facility within Kennedy Space Center, it stands as a new landmark not too far from NASA's massive Vehicle Assembly Building.
The project first came to attention in Feb. 2025 when a document listed with the Federal Aviation Administration outlined plans for the Florida Gigabay.
Construction began in Fall 2025 and is expected to last until August 2026. With NASA's Artemis program set to utilize Starship as a human lunar lander possibly as soon as 2028, this timeline adds up.
Starship is poised to eventually launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A and Launch Complex 37 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and work is well underway by SpaceX to prepare for the first Florida flight.
At 380 feet tall, the Starship Gigabay is shorter than NASA's 525-foot Vehicle Assembly Building but will still stand out near Cape Canaveral, offering the public a clear view of SpaceX's new operations.
Similar to the SpaceX facility in Texas, the Gigabay is intended for stacking and preparing the 232-foot-tall Super Heavy boosters (lower stages) before launch. When Starship is fully assembled on the launch pad, its height exceeds 400 feet.
SpaceX Starship coming to Cape Canaveral
SpaceX’s giant Starship launch system will be used for both private endeavors and for NASA and Space Force missions.
Starship is currently under contract as a lander for NASA's Artemis Program, as well as NASA's Launch Services Program, which would use it to send future NASA science missions into space.
As for private endeavors, it will be used to deploy satellites such as SpaceX's Starlink, which SpaceX successfully demonstrated during the last two test flights from Texas using mockup Starlink satellites, which were dispensed from a payload slot in the ship.
The vehicle was also touted as SpaceX's ticket to Mars, yet with NASA's renewed goal of a sustained presence on the moon, the goal has shifted to the moon with the company stating it stands ready to assist in NASA's Artemis missions.
SpaceX has Cape Canaveral facilities and already is manufacturing Starship tower segments in Florida and shipping them to Texas by barge. SpaceX is also manufacturing 1000 Starship heatshield tiles per day in the Cape Canaveral “bakery."
When Starship does arrive in Cape Canaveral, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has teased it will be ferried from Texas by a barge named “You’ll Thank Me Later." The barge has already been spotted making stops at Kennedy Space Center with undisclosed cargo.
Starship as a lander for NASA’s Artemis Program
Starship is under a $4.4 billion contract to act as the human lander for NASA’s Artemis IV mission, which will return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
In a recent move, NASA shifted that lunar landing goal from Artemis III to Artemis IV, yet the 2028 timeline remains.
Blue Origin is contracted to meet this need as well with its Blue Moon Mark II lander. Mark II will be launched atop the company’s New Glenn rocket.
During the Artemis III mission, which is slated for 2027, the Artemis Program’s Orion spacecraft will practice docking with one or both of these landers in Earth orbit.
When will Starship launch from Florida?
As soon as April, SpaceX is set to launch the first of its V3 Starship from Starbase, which is in the vicinity of Boca Chica, Texas. This is the first launch of the version that will eventually launch from Florida.
SpaceX is banking on Starship making its debut launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A as soon as this year, but the company has repeatedly stated it will not launch until its ready and safe to do so.
Final work is being done at the first Florida launch site, with evidence of work being started over at Launch Complex 37 as Starship launch tower segments traveled past the NASA press site and SpaceX’s new cargo barge delivered hardware.
Local concerns remain, ranging from structural damage from the rocket’s vibrations, road closures near Playalinda Beach, and airspace closures. However, the FAA environment review passed earlier this year stating SpaceX was permitted to procced with upwards of 88 launches per year — including roughly 44 booster landings and 44 ship landings.
Starship is designed to be fully reused, with the goal of returning both the Super Heavy booster and Starship back to a launch site. While SpaceX has demonstrated it can return the booster, it has yet to successfully return the Starship itself.
Quelle: Florida Today