SpaceX announced Tuesday that it will build a $100 billion Starship launch complex in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. The company is calling the project Starbase Louisiana. The site covers roughly 125,000 acres around Pecan Island on land formerly owned by Exxon. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with the first launch targeted for 2029.

If built as planned, this will become SpaceX’s fourth launch location and larger than the existing Starbase in South Texas near Brownsville. The design includes five launch complexes with two pads each, plus propellant production, power generation, and vehicle processing facilities. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the Louisiana campus is intended to support thousands of Starship flights per year. Those flights are tied to the company’s next-generation rocket and a broader satellite and orbital-data strategy—not a single science mission.

Job estimates already differ. Elon Musk has spoken of roughly 10,000 jobs. The state of Louisiana projects about 3,000 direct jobs over ten years, along with several thousand indirect positions. Parish officials have also referenced a long-term payment arrangement with Vermilion Parish. None of this is flying hardware yet. It remains a press announcement, an incentives package, and a coastal site that still has to clear real permitting.

For an Athens business, this is not a software update. It is a major Gulf Coast industrial story unfolding one state over from the South Texas pad many people already know. If the project stays on its advertised timeline, the region gains another large construction and aerospace neighbor. If the dates slip—as often happens with projects of this scale—that would not be surprising. Either way, the news is clear: SpaceX is no longer treating South Texas as the only home for Starship.

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