Launch Ambition Meets Local Stakes on Florida’s Space Coast

Florida’s Space Coast is booming as rockets from Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX push launches higher, but environmentalists and commercial fishers warn the growth could degrade Merritt Island’s ecosystems and hurt local fisheries through noise, pollution, water chemistry changes, and debris, prompting calls for wastewater recycling, mitigation measures, and even a relief fund as regulators balance progress with environmental safeguarding.