Featured Image Source: @RGVaerialphotos via Twitter
SpaceX built the first Starship spaceport at Boca Chica, a small sandy beach village located in the southernmost tip of Texas along the border with Mexico. SpaceX founder Elon Musk envisions transforming the sandy region into the 'Gateway to Mars.' Starbase features a Starship rocket factory and a launch site that will support humanity’s greatest ambition – to expand the scope and scale of consciousness across the Solar System. Musk hopes to have the first Mars colony up and running in his lifetime before the year 2050. He runs around-the-clock operations at the Texas facility to speed up the rocket-ship’s development.
The company is getting ready to propel the first Starship to orbit with a Super Heavy rocket. The test launch could take place within the first quarter this year. “We have a real shot at late February. March launch attempt appears highly likely,” said Musk on January 7. SpaceX is still pending a spaceflight license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform the orbital flight, which will liftoff from Starbase and land in the ocean off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Today, SpaceX shared a video of Starship being stacked atop the rocket to undergo more pre-flight preparations, linked below.
Ship 24 stacked on Super Heavy Booster 7 at Starbase in Texas pic.twitter.com/hLcghfq349
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 10, 2023
On Sunday, January 8, Musk shared that SpaceX acquired a gun range near Starbase to use the land. –“Massey’s gun range is being turned into a rocket test facility. Perfect match,” he wrote via Twitter. The location is approximately 15-minutes away from the launch site, along the same Highway 4 road. The acquired land is expected to be used for Raptor engine testing and repairs. RGV Aerial Photography shared photographs of the location, shown below.
Since SpaceX operations began in 2019, it has attracted hundreds of tourists into Boca Chica Beach. People would go check-out the Starbase launch site then go to ‘Massey’s Gun Shop & Range’ for target practice activities. According to local residents, the shooting range is still open at a different location along the State Highway 4 road that leads to Starbase. The company has purchased multiple lands in the sandy region, including homes that have been transformed into offices, resting spaces, and even an 'Ad Astra' child care school for employees. Starbase also has a restaurant bar that serves employees drinks and warm meals, among other amenities.
Massey’s gun range is being turned into a rocket test facility. Perfect match.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2023
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Featured Image Source: @RGVaerialphotos via Twitter
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
