U.K. company to acquire 12 acres near Hopkins for astronaut training facility

• Brook Park's economic development commissioner, Paul Marnecheck, confirmed that timeframe to Axios following Vickers' remarks.
• Vickers said the plan is to submit architectural plans during the first quarter of 2024 and break ground sometime in the middle of the year, projecting an 18-month construction schedule thereafter.

Catch up quick: The facility, the first of its kind in the world, would include an enormous pool of 42,000 cubic meters — 17 times the size of an Olympic swimming pool — to train astronauts and deep-sea divers.

• Vickers also said the site would pursue military, industrial and academic clients for research and development uses, particularly for deep-sea robotics and other technologies designed for extreme environments.

One fun thing: Vickers said the facility would be named for Alexei Leonov and Ed White, the first two astronauts to perform spacewalks.