The document provided details explaining an environmental review that must precede construction of the site, which will launch orbital and suborbital launch vehicles in an eastward path over the Gulf of Mexico.

   The FAA said the proposed facility would be built to handle as many as 12 commercial launches a year and would support SpaceX’s Falcon 9 medium rocket, as well as its Dragon space capsule and upcoming Falcon Heavy launcher. SpaceX currently plans to begin launching Dragon missions from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida this year to support its $1.6 billion Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract with NASA, under which SpaceX will transport supplies and personnel to the International Space Station.

   “The proposed vertical launch area site is currently undeveloped and is located directly adjacent to the eastern terminus of Texas State Highway 4 (Boca Chica Boulevard) and approximately 3 miles north of the Mexican border on the Gulf Coast [in the Brownville area],” the FAA said in the document. “It is located approximately 5 miles [8 km] south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island. If SpaceX does decide to launch from the Brownsville area, the company will have to build a new vertical launch facility, a control area and a payload integration facility.”

   The document said the Texas site would also support a variety of smaller reusable suborbital launch vehicles. “Besides orbital spacecraft, supported services could include SpaceX’s Grasshopper vehicle, a test bed for reusable rocket stages comprising a Falcon 9 core stage fitted with landing gear.”

   SpaceX currently maintains launch facilities at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, as well as a rocket test facility in McGregor, Texas. SpaceX launched its single-engine Falcon 1 from Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll during the early days of the company.

   SpaceX CEO and CTO Elon Musk first revealed his intentions to build a private launch site in November. Musk said he envisioned a facility that functioned similarly to Cape Canaveral, but specifically designed for commercial use. Alaska, California, Florida, Texas and Virginia were all under consideration for potential host states.

   Musk testified in a written statement presented to the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee a month earlier in October, to provide Congress with a progress report on the company’s $75 million NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program contract awarded in April 2011.

   “The Dragon spacecraft design has been upgraded to meet all requirements for ferrying cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS), including the proximity operations sensors to guide the vehicle safely near the ISS. This mission will be an extended mission to the ISS, lasting more than three weeks,” Musk wrote in the testimony. “Consequently, two solar array wings have been added to the Dragon trunk to enable positive power generation throughout the flight. Additionally, a redundant active thermal control system loop has been installed in the Dragon trunk to reject excess heat into space; protect the spacecraft from excessively hot or cold temperatures; and provide an environment inside the spacecraft that is acceptable for cargo and for the ISS crew when berthed to station.”

   SpaceX has completed a series of COTS milestones tests on the fully integrated Dragon spacecraft, including a 12-day thermal vacuum test during which the entire avionics system was exercised while flowing 24/7 telemetry. Musk said that no notable issues were uncovered and the company’s thermal data closely matched model predictions.

   “As a result of the commonality between the cargo and crew versions of Dragon, many of the critical components of the Dragon crew transportation system are already operational and flight-proven. Other systems for crew accommodation require some development, but the only major development is for the launch abort system. This commonality enables SpaceX to plan for crew demonstration flights in 2014, with a rapid transition to operational capability,” said Musk.