SpaceX continues to eye Texas spaceport

AUSTIN (AP) — SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk swung by the Texas Capitol on Friday and told lawmakers he could announce this year that the state will be home to his next ballyhooed spaceport — if the price is right.

Bringing rare celebrity wattage to typically dry House Appropriations Committee hearings where the state budget is hashed out, Musk expressed optimism about Texas' chances of beating out Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico for what he says will be "a commercial version of Cape Canaveral."

Musk, who was in Austin to speak at the South by Southwest festival and promote his Tesla electric cars, said the winner hinges on which state puts together the best offer. He hinted at competitors offering generous economic incentives yet stopped short of revealing figures.

He often spoke, however, as though Texas was the preference. California-based SpaceX already launches unmanned rockets from a launch pad in Florida but Musk said there is an inherent appeal to expanding elsewhere.

Musk said his new spaceport will be the world's first commercial orbital launch site.

"All things being equal, I think it's better to have more than one location and have them be geographically separate," Musk said. "But on the other hand, if the economics are so compelling in Florida, that has to be considered."

Whatever offer the state puts on the table for SpaceX is likely to include taxpayer money from Gov. Rick Perry's deal-closing Texas Enterprise Fund, which has been used to sway corporate heavyweights like Apple to expand in the state.

Ironically, after Musk finished testifying and was followed into the hall by admirers wanting pictures with the PayPal co-founder, lawmakers in the freshly empty committee room took managers of the Texas Enterprise Fund to task over transparency and questioned restocking it with more money.

SpaceX already has roots in Texas, building rockets at a facility near Waco. The proposed launch site would be just outside Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border. The Federal Aviation Administration is still conducting an environmental impact statement on the proposed site.

Musk said the company hopes to make a decision on where to build the site this year. SpaceX is already buying land near Brownsville.

"We're talking about something that is really the big leagues here," Musk said.

SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to keep the International Space Station well stocked. The contract calls for 12 supply runs, including one that launched earlier this month.

SpaceX, or more formally Space Exploration Technologies Corp., leads the commercial pack that is working toward launching astronauts in another few years. Musk said he can have people flying on a modified Dragon by 2015.