After receiving 212 votes in favor to 6 against, the SpaceX space launch site located in Texas "Starbase," home of the mega-rocket Starship, will become a city in its own right. On X, the CEO of the American company Elon Musk shared the news as houses and trailers near the facilities are being built to house SpaceX employees.
Let's take a closer look at the new city where residents live among rockets, Starbase.
Starbase became a city in 6 years
The new city will also be called Starbase after a vote organized by the Cameron County Elections Department, where the site is located. There are 283 registered voters on site, most of whom are employees of the aerospace company. While the idea of building a city dates back to 2021, the site's expansion dates back to 2019 when SpaceX was carrying out heavy construction.
At that time, the company was making its shift that would lead it to obtain a special site for its Starship project, in parallel with the commercial launches of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy in Florida at Cape Canaveral. For six years, the company had to face the hazards of the area, where the land surface and submerged by water are constantly changing. But now, this is where SpaceX's Mars travel plans are taking shape.
An "Astropub" bar and a "RioWest" shopping center
On Google Maps, the town of Starbase is still considered "Boca Chica Village," and we can see from the images satellites that include a bar-restaurant called "Astropub", decorated with neon lighting and marked with Elon Musk's dream: "Occupy Mars". It is the only small business visible at the moment.
However, other services will soon be available to Starbase residents as SpaceX invests in a center called "RioWest." The shopping complex is aimed at both locals and tourists and will be located uptown, between Boca Chica Boulevard and Quicksilver Avenue. RioWest was originally scheduled to open in December 2025 but is now expected to arrive in 2026 at the earliest.
The "Ad Astra" School
Near this new "RioWest" center, SpaceX set up the "Ad Astra" school (Latin for "to the stars") in 2014, which opened until 2020. Since then, it has been transformed into "Astra Nova" and has become 100% digital. It bills itself as an "experimental online school for kind, independent, and daring children," according to its official website. Open to ages 10 to 14, it offers "equal employment opportunities to its employees and applicants. Employment at Astra Nova School is based solely on merit and qualifications. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant," according to its website.
"Memes Street" and Elon Musk's house
Amidst the houses, the main street of "Memes Street" (a name given by Elon Musk) stretches for half a kilometer, before leading directly to the large warehouses of the rocket production site. On both sides of this street, we find the original houses of the village, with their plots of land and their garages. This is Elon Musk's home, which he made his home in 2022.
Even though you might quickly feel like you're in a quiet residential neighborhood, the perspective is unmistakable: looking west, the large Starship production site warehouses are just a few hundred meters away.
Even more impressive, the new Starship rockets still have to travel down Boca Chica Boulevard to reach their launch pad. From the homes, the 121-meter-tall rocket can be observed up close before its launch. This view will be even more so for employees housed in the new low-budget homes built on a plot of land between Esperson Street and Boca Chica Boulevard. It's very simple, they are located less than 20 meters from the path of the megarocket.
Port Isabel
Starbase's closest neighbors are in Port Isabel, located a little further north. Although it takes 40 minutes to travel between the two cities, due to a mandatory stopover in Brownsville, located inland, Port Isabel is only about ten kilometers away as the crow flies. The small town of 5,000 inhabitants notably gained notoriety in 2023, when a Starship test caused heavy damage to its launch pad, with numerous debris spread for kilometers, and harmful dust.
A county in the colors of Trump
Along the road leading to Starbase stands a gigantic bust of Elon Musk. Like a king, he will be the figurehead of the new city, which will soon elect a new mayor and two commissioners. SpaceX is counting on this new management to obtain new rights, including the closure of a beach near the facilities, as well as a nearby highway. This will further expand the infrastructure on the ground.
The project is not surprising given that SpaceX had big ambitions for Starship in 2025 (25 launches per year). Despite protest movements in Cameron County, where Brownsville and Starbase are located, the last presidential elections showed that the population had swung towards the Republican camp, and more specifically towards Donald Trump.
"Mr. Trump accomplished what no Republican had done in 20 years: he turned the tide in Cameron County. He won the county with 53 percent of the vote, the first victory by a Republican presidential candidate since former Texas governor and then-president George W. Bush in 2004,” the New York Times reported in a report following the election on December 1, 2024.
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