Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the attendees at the Firefly Aerospace press conference at Cape Canaveral on Friday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL—Firefly Aerospace, Inc. of Austin, TX, a provider of launch vehicles, spacecraft and in-space services, is planning to spend $52 million at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport here to foster its efforts to harness the commercial potential of space exploration.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the company's planned capital investment at a press event on Friday. The company plans to establish a new launch and manufacturing facility that will give Firefly the capability to locally manufacture, test and launch rockets delivering commercial payloads.

The project will involve the development of approximately 180,000 square feet of launch and manufacturing facilities in Exploration Park at Cape Canaveral Seaport with the option to double the footprint. The capital investment on more than 18 acres is expected to create more than 200 jobs with positions that will have an average salary of $70,000.