BlackStar Orbital Lands in Sierra Vista: Building Spaceplanes at Our Airport

Space has always felt far away, until now. Sierra Vista is officially on the map for the next generation of space technology with BlackStar Orbital choosing our municipal airport as home base for its new $7.1 million spacecraft manufacturing and test facility. By 2026, this project is expected to bring at least 50 high-wage aerospace jobs right here to our city. That’s not just a headline, it’s a huge deal for our community, our local economy, and for families looking for stable, future-focused careers in Southern Arizona. What BlackStar Orbital Does BlackStar Orbital isn’t building just another satellite. Their flagship project, the SpaceDrone , is part spaceplane and part satellite bus. Think of it as a reusable “drone for space” that launches like a small satellite, conducts missions in orbit like earth observation, communications, or defense ISR, then returns to Earth and lands on a runway for refurbishment and reuse. Instead of burning up in the atmosphere like most satell...