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In the US, Washington state’s aerospace¹ industry has always been associated with industry giant Boeing, but that may be changing. A growing number of smaller businesses focused on commercial space flight are moving to the Pacific Northwest. 

Their numbers may be small, but their dreams are big.

Companies like Planetary Resources, which plans to mine asteroids² approaching Earth.

And Aerojet Rocketdyne. One of an estimated 20 to 30 outer space-related businesses employing about 1,000 workers in the U.S. state of Washington, and boasting some of technology’s biggest names as backers.

"A couple of examples of some well-known folks like Paul Allen, Jeff Bezos, and even Bill Gates has made some investments in space-related companies." Joe Landon, Managing Director of Space Angels Network said.

Bezos’ Blue Origin is one of the four companies NASA has chosen as a potential partner to build a replacement³ craft for the space shuttle-- to bring people to the International Space Station.

Space-flight investor⁴ Joe Landon moved his company from San Francisco two years ago.

He believes the state’s mix of big-time investors⁵, technological⁶ expertise⁷ and Boeing’s manufacturing legacy⁸ are unmatched anywhere in the U.S.

"It’s more hardware focused than Silicon⁹ Valley startups are. So you need a combination of technical talent, but also the ability to hire people that can weld, that can be machinists." Joe Landon said.

For decades, Boeing and its suppliers have dominated Washington state’s aerospace industry. For state leaders, growing the space cluster is a key priority.But so far, Washington state has not offered any tax incentives¹⁰ for space-related businesses.

"We’re working to encourage companies to come together, understand what each others are doing, build out the supply chain here for space companies. And we think there’s a huge upside." Alex Pietsch, Dierctor fo WA State Office of Aerosapce said.

And local players are putting on the hard sell to companies worried about the downside of putting tens of millions of dollars on the line.

"They see an opportunity to get really great returns on their investment by investing early in this industry." Joe Landon said.

An industry taking flight in a state that already knows a lot about getting off the ground. Airliner¹¹ taking off.