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1st Private Launch Pad Is in Texas

Rick Perry backs space travel.

Elon Musk's SpaceX announced on Monday that it would be building the world's first commercial space launch site in southern Texas. “SpaceX is excited to expand our work in Texas with the world’s first commercial launch complex designed specifically for orbital missions,” said Musk. And Texas is just as excited, if not more so. The state gave Musk $15.3 million in incentives to build in Brownsville, which is a few miles north of Mexico. Gov. Rick Perry is trying to make his state the headquarters for the space tourism industry, having wooed Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Xcor Aerospace, and Orbital Outfitters to Texas. SpaceX plans to start launching rockets for private clients and foreign governments as early as 2016 according to Brownsville officials.