During the early 1960s, Camden County in Georgia was considered by NASA as a potential launch site for the
Apollo program.
A site on
Merritt Island, Florida, near the existing Cape Canaveral launch pads, was selected instead; however some rocket testing for the Apollo program took place on the Georgia site. In November 2012, the Camden County Joint Development Authority voted unanimously to "explore developing an aero-spaceport facility" at an
Atlantic coastal site to support both horizontal and vertical launch operations, in hopes of attracting a
SpaceX launch facility. SpaceX selected
a location near
Brownsville, Texas for its launch site. However, in June 2015, the county authorized environmental studies, purchasing a former industrial location used by
Bayer CropScience and solid rocket motor manufacturer
Thiokol to pursue the development of a spaceport. At the time, it was believed that the site, comprising , could see launches begin by 2020. the
Georgia General Assembly approved legislation offering limited liability protection against spaceflight participant injury claims related to launches from the proposed spaceport, and in May Governor
Nathan Deal signed HB 1. A 2017 study by
Georgia Southern University determined that the spaceport could provide $22.5 million in yearly revenue to the region. In March 2018, the
FAA, the US
regulatory agency for spaceports, approved the "draft status" of the
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the spaceport. On 20 December 2021, the
Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch site operator license for Spaceport Camden with a flight trajectory limited to a 100-degree azimuth. In March 2022, the project was rejected by Camden county voters in a referendum. Despite this, county representatives nonetheless attempted to move forward with the acquisition of the property while executing numerous legal maneuvers to invalidate the referendum, including an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court on whether the voters had any right to override the county's decisions under the state constitution's Home Rule. In February 2023, the court unanimously agreed that the constitution allows the electorate to amend or repeal ordinances, resolutions, or regulations, and that the referendum was subsequently valid and enforceable. As of 2023, the investors had called off the project, and the property was for sale. ==Facilities and operations==