Says City Is Negotiating With 'Numerous' Companies To Attract Them To Texas

While XCOR will be laying off a portion of its workforce working on the Lynx suborbital spacecraft, officials and space industry leaders in Midland, TX say that the impact on the city's nascent space industry will be minimal.

The Midland Record-Telegram reports that city leaders in Midland, as well as the Midland Development Corp. and one XCOR founder who has since left the company say that the layoffs will not be a major factor in the city's efforts to be a space hub. Former XCOR executive Jeff Greason told the paper that the industry is continuing to grow, and that such ups and downs are to be expected.

XCOR agreed to move its headquarters from Mojave, CA to Midland in 2012 in exchange for a $10 million incentive deal with Midland Development Corp. (MDC). MDC President Brent Hilliard told the paper that the layoffs at XCOR don't change the city's outlook for the space industry locally.

Hilliard said that MDC is currently negotiating with several space companies that are considering a move to Midland, some of them major players in the industry.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.midlandtexas.gov/358/Midland-Development-Corporation