SpaceX continues its growth at Starbase and McGregor as Musk flies in Trump’s orbit
With SpaceX preparing for its sixth test flight from South Texas and CEO Elon Musk spending more time in President-elect Donald Trump ’s orbit, the tech mogul’s Texas operations are continuing to grow. Planned construction at the commercial space company’s Starbase near Boca Chica Beach and its McGregor engine test facility outside Waco speak to the quickening pace of Starship development and attempts to make life more comfortable for its employees.
A new filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows SpaceX is planning a $7.5 million, 22,500-square-foot expansion of a rocket development hangar at its engine test facility in McGregor. RELATED: SpaceX Starship set to blast off Tuesday from South Texas. Here’s what you need to know. Construction is set to begin in December with completion in late May. The expansion is likely necessary for the company to test and prepare more Raptor engines for the massive Starship as its launches become more frequent. “I would not be surprised if we fly 400 Starship launches in the next four years,” Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president, said Friday at the Baron Capitol conference in New York. “We want to fly it a lot.” At its Starbase rocket development and launch site near Brownsville, other state filings show the company is adding a 5,000-square-foot pool house on LBJ Boulevard in Boca Chica Village. It will be adjacent to a $13.5 million recreation center the company began building in May. Plans for the project come less than a month after a SpaceX employee drowned while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico off Boca Chica Beach. READ MORE: SpaceX building Starbase sushi restaurant, recreation center The company has also recently increased other amenities offered for its employees at Starbase. In addition to the pool and rec center, it’s building half-million-dollar sushi restaurant on nearby St. Jude Street. The projects are dwarfed by other recent developments at Starbase, where SpaceX builds, tests and launches Starship. Other recent projects include the additions of a $100 million office complex, $96 million rocket factory, $21 million parking garage, $15 million restaurant and retail complex dubbed Rio West, and several smaller projects. More than 2,100 people are employed at Starbase. Some employees live in company houses and trailers throughout the area. Before SpaceX moved in, there was little infrastructure at Boca Chica Beach. As the company grows, road and power infrastructure have improved, although Cameron County still trucks in water for the company and the few non-SpaceX residents who remain in Boca Chica Village. RELATED: SpaceX backed out of a land swap that would have given the company Boca Chica parkland While life is getting more comfortable for SpaceX employees, there are still no public restrooms or access to food or water for the thousands of tourists attracted to the Boca Chica Beach launch site. That will change once the Rio West complex is completed. According to a city of Brownsville statement, that could be as soon as December. The company is planning its next Starship launch as soon as Tuesday afternoon. The test flight will attempt to land the rocket’s Super Heavy booster back at the Starbase launch site while the upper-stage Starship is expected to touch down in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia.
Texas Department Of Licensing And Regulation Boca Chica Super Heavy Elon Musk Gwynne Shotwell Donald Trump Spacex Starbase South Texas Mcgregor Boca Chica Beach Brownsville Boca Chica Village Waco Rio West St. Jude St. Baron Capitol New York LBJ Boulevard Gulf Of Mexico Cameron County Indian Ocean Australia Raptor
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