Campus at Houston Spaceport: Collins Aerospace Constructing

HOUSTON,– Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies, laid out plans to build a 120,000 square-foot campus that will support spaceflight and host Houston’s first spaceflight incubator.

The project will be located at the 400-acre Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport, which is located on the Southeast side of Houston near Space Center Boulevard.

The City of Houston Airport System manages the Spaceport project, which is intended to promote space vehicle assembly, space tourism, Component and composite development and fabrication, zero-gravity scientific and medical experiments and microsatellite deployment.

Spaceport, which is not far from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, is also participating in astronaut training and development.

As an anchor tenant of Houston Spaceport, Collins Aerospace will receive up to $25.6 million in financing from Houston Airports for capital improvements. Collins Aerospace currently has a facility in Houston, which is at capacity, that develops and produces systems for NASA’s human-manned space flights.

“Collins Aerospace’s new campus is yet another a game-changer for Houston as we position our region as one of the country’s leading next-generation tech and aerospace hubs,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “We are leveraging Houston’s many advantages, including our dynamic workforce, to fuel the future of aerospace— a potentially trillion-dollar, 21st-century commercial space economy.”

The new Collins Aerospace campus will continue to be part of the company’s Mission Systems business, one of six strategic business units of Collins Aerospace. The facility will also host Houston’s first-ever incubator supporting spaceflight, with a dedicated 10,000 square-foot area for start-ups and universities to collaborate on solving critical space technology challenges, including robotics, medicine and additive manufacturing. Houston continues to be a leading region for aerospace and the Houston Spaceport will provide a great opportunity for members of the aerospace community to come together, facilitating collaboration and innovation.

“On behalf of Collins Aerospace, I would like to thank the City of Houston, Houston Airports and Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership for creating a robust business climate and for their strong support of this important expansion of our business,” Phil Jasper, president of Collins Aerospace’s Mission Systems business unit said. “Building on our 40 years in the Houston community, this expansion will further strengthen collaboration with our customer to support spaceflight.”

“Collins Aerospace is a great fit at Houston Spaceport,” Houston Airports Director Mario Diaz said. “The partnership is a key element to realizing the importance of Houston Spaceport— a center for collaboration and innovation where the brightest minds in the world can lead us beyond the next frontier of space exploration.”

Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership

“For 45 years now, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, BAHEP, has worked very closely with the aerospace community in Houston to help this very important industry cluster continue to be successful,” BAHEP President Bob Mitchell said. “The work Collins Aerospace has brought to Houston for nearly 40 years has provided valuable aerospace career opportunities for Houstonians.”

Houston is the only city in the Western Hemisphere with two Skytrax rated 4-star airports.

In addition to Collins, Axiom Space recently laid out plans to develop a 14-acre headquarters campus at Houston Spaceport.

The space industry blossomed in southeast Houston after Lyndon Baines Johnson successfully secured a NASA facility. The 10,000-acre Clear Lake City large-scale planned community was developed around NASA’s campus.