Musk's SpaceX Gets Los Angeles Approval To Build Spaceship At Port

The Space Exploration Company, better known as SpaceX, has won the approval of Los Angeles authorities to build a manufacturing facility at the port, Reuters reported Tuesday.

What Happened

The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 to approve a permit allowing SpaceX to lease 19 acres of land at the city's port for ten years, according to Reuters.

The company, led by Elon Musk, who also heads the automaker Tesla Inc. TSLA, is working on developing a spaceship to take civilians on interplanetary journeys.

"It's crazy that here we are in 2020 preparing ourselves to send people to Mars, and it's going to happen in our backyard," L.A. councilmember Joe Buscaino said ahead of the vote, as reported by Reuters. "We are becoming a spaceport."

SpaceX will use the site for engineering, manufacturing, and research and development efforts, Buscaino said.

Why It Matters

Earlier in 2018, SpaceX had won a similar permit to lease land at the L.A. port, but the plan didn't materialize. The company is currently building a spaceship prototype for testing at its site near Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX manufactures the Falcon 9 rockets at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

CNBC reported earlier in January that the aerospace manufacturer was in talks with the L.A. authorities to get another approval.

Buscaino told CNBC at the time that SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnsen apologized for backing out of the deal last time. Johnsen told Busciano that the company plans to build its next-generation rocket "Starship" at the facility.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.