Starbase

Last week I was fortunate enough to visit Starbase, the spaceport, production, and research and development facility built by SpaceX to develop their Starship rockets (https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/).  Located at Boca Chica in south Texas, this "excellent hive of spaceflight activity" (SpaceX's own words) is an amazing place, and I was completely blown away by both the scale of activity there and the generous amount of public access.

The visit started with a walk along the roads by the production site.  As I wandered past the High Bay, the Mega Bay, the second Mega Bay (nearly complete), and the Rocket Garden, I gazed in wonder at the collection of Starships and Super Heavy boosters, some of which were less than one hundred feet away from me.

But the highlight of the visit was walking the sand dunes around the orbital launch site.  The SpaceX property line is clearly marked with stakes in the ground, so you can walk along Boca Chica Beach and be confident that you are not trespassing, while still getting amazingly close to the orbital launch mount.  The sheer scale of "Mechazilla", as the combined launch and catch tower and arms are called by Elon Musk, is astonishing.  As a bonus, Starship S25 and Super Heavy Booster B9 were there, possibly just a week or two from their upcoming Integrated Flight Test 2 test flight.

If you are a space nerd like me, you really owe it to yourself to make the trek to Starbase.  I guarantee you won't be disappointed.  Nowhere else on Earth can you experience an active spaceport up close and see the rockets that will one day (hopefully) take us to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. (Before you go, check out the Cameron County website for possible road closures.  https://www.cameroncountytx.gov/spacex/)

Until next time, keep looking to the sky and keep dreaming.