section_path: History/Firefly Space Systems/Early growth
section_name: Early growth
paragraph_text: Early growth
  
  Firefly Space Systems began as a startup in January 2014 by Tom Markusic, P.J. King, Michael Blum, and a small group of entrepreneurs who self-funded the company. In November 2014, Firefly moved its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Austin -suburb Cedar Park, Texas. It grew to 43 employees by November 2014, and purchased 215 acres (87 ha) of land for an engine test and manufacturing facility in Briggs, Texas, 50 miles (80 km) north of Austin.
  
  In 2014, Firefly purchased fiber-winding equipment for manufacturing composite cryotanks that would be built using an out-of-autoclave process. Prototype tanks were tested at Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA in mid-2014.
  
  The Firefly Alpha design was revealed in July 2014. Firefly's objective was to be cash-flow-positive by 2018, based on anticipated small-satellite business. Firefly had signed an agreement with Space Florida to launch from the Florida "Space Coast".
  
  Firefly performed its first hot-fire engine test of the "Firefly Rocket Engine Research 1" (FRE-R1) on September 10, 2015. The initial demonstration launch of the Firefly Alpha was planned to be as early as 2016.