Rocket company SpaceX will move its headquarters from Hawthorne to Texas, Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, said Tuesday.
Musk made the announcement after a series of social media posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the first-in-the-nation law to ban school districts from requiring educators and school staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to anyone without the child’s permission.
“This is the final straw,” Musk responded to a post that shared an article about the new law, which will take effect in January. “Because of this law and the many other that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will move its HQ from Hawthore, California to Starbase, Texas.”
He added in a subsequent post: "I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.''
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It's not clear how the decision would affect the employment of hundreds of Southern Californians employed by the aerospace company.
The billionaire said the X, formerly Twitter, headquarters in downtown San Francisco would be also moving to Texas.
SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, has been a revolutionary force in the space industry, pioneering the re-use of multimillion-dollar rocket boosters to dramatically cut the cost of aerospace missions. The company has earned multiple contracts from NASA for conducting resupply missions to the International Space Station, and transporting astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost with its Crew Dragon capsules. SpaceX is also working with NASA as part of the ambitious Artemis program aimed at establishing a base on the moon, with the larger goal of using the base as a possible launch point for manned missions to Mars.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to respond to Musk's vow to move the company, writing on X, "This cements Texas as the leader in space exploration.''
SpaceX already has significant operations in Texas, where it developing its massive Starship vehicle -- billed as the most powerful rocket ever flown -- for use in the Artemis program and human/cargo missions to Mars.
