A new kind of untested rocket soon will appear on the Cape, ready for its first scheduled flight in the spring.
A successful launch could mean more than 100 additional jobs in the space industry, which is threatened by the end of the shuttle program.
But success isn't guaranteed. SpaceX's smaller, single-engine rocket racked up three failed launches before a fourth launch attempt reached orbit from an island in the Pacific. SpaceX, however, hopes for immediate success with the larger rocket, which uses technologies refined from the four launches of the smaller version.
Measuring 180 feet tall and 12 feet wide, SpaceX's Falcon 9 will have nine newly designed engines and a paying customer for its maiden voyage.
The first Falcon 9 is scheduled to arrive late this year and lift off in the spring from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40. The pad is being renovated in part with $1 million in funding from Space Florida, the state agency formed to help the space industry.
"Fabrication of the hangar will be complete by the end of November," said Brian Mosdell, SpaceX's director of Florida launch operations. "All major components related to other pad systems, including propellant, pneumatic, hydraulics, video, communications and command and control systems, are in place."
