SpaceX Launch Latest News & Updates: Florida Government Supports SpaceX, Offers $5M To Help Launch

The SpaceX Company, which plans to launch astronauts to Kennedy Space Center for another rounds of exploration, got full support from Florida State. They received $5 million from Florida as assistance to help them pursue the launch.

The approval was done Wednesday at Space Florida. It was during the board of directors' meeting that they have decided to pursue support to SpaceX so astronauts can go on board Dragon capsules by year 2018, USA Today reports.

SpaceX Company plans to build the capsules under a $25 million budget, which in turn will provide a lot of construction jobs for Florida's State. According to William Dymond, Space Florida's Chairman of the board, the project is very important that "moving to Commercial Crew is both exciting and an important part of the future of the spaceport."

Meanwhile, Jim Kuzma, the operations chief of Space Florida, supports Dymond's statement about SpaceX and was quoted when he said that "the urgency is to get the pad up and ready so all the certification can be done on all systems that support that." It was also noted that the support immediately came after SpaceX Falcon 9 exploded due to some operational failures.

On Fox 35's report, however, they said that the Florida State is still looking for ways to finance the second phase of SpaceX's mission. Space Florida's Chief Investment Officer, Howard Haug, even said that they are doing this to prepare the manned vehicles that will travel towards the International Space Station which is under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Meanwhile, some reports say that the new budget might also be used to reconstruct damaged pad 40. Despite the harrowing pressure caused by the September 1 Falcon 9 failure, SpaceX still hopes that they can rebuild Falcon 9 within the year so they can relaunch by next year or in year 2018.