Redondo Beach Chamber: Long Beach Revives Aerospace Past In New ‘Space Beach' Era

Press release from the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce:

November 8, 2021

The U.S. has entered a new era in space exploration, and Long Beach is determined to be right at the center of it.

Once ruled by government agencies, the current wave of innovation in the aerospace industry is largely driven by private companies, from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to the space divisions of Richard Branson’s Virgin. In an effort to establish the city as “Space Beach,” Long Beach is now hoping
to cash in on its long-standing heritage in the aerospace industry to secure its share of the space tech pie.

“The past and the future [are] coming together in space for the city,” Mayor Robert Garcia, who
coined the “Space Beach” nomer, said during an economic forum in July.

“It’s about satellites, it’s about rockets, it’s about space—and Long Beach is in the middle of that.”

Long Beach’s history as a hub for the aerospace industry has proven to be an asset in this effort.

“A lot of the skills that people learned in that traditional aerospace and defense [industry] transition well to space tech,” said Nick Schultz, executive director of the workforce development agency Pacific Gateway.

“I think we’re really prepared.”

The departure or withdrawal of traditional aerospace companies in recent years, most notably Gulfstream and Boeing, has dealt a blow to the local industry and its workforce.

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This press release was produced by the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.