SpaceX is in a deal to use a marine terminal in the Port of Long Beach for West Coast rocket recovery operations.
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a new sublease agreement with Elon Musk’s space launch company on Monday.
SpaceX will take over a wharf that was vacated in February 2020 by Sea Launch, a company that sailed a self-propelled ocean-going launch platform and a command ship to the equator for satellite launches. Sea Launch kept the vessels at Long Beach between launches.
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX will take over the 6.5-acre facility on May 1.
SpaceX can land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets on sea-going landing pads for reuse and also recovers its Dragon capsules after ocean splashdowns.
The company had used a site in the neighboring Port of Los Angeles for recovery operations. It also twice backed out of plans to build its Starship rocket in the Port of LA.