Featured Image Source: Tesmanian.com / Evelyn J. Arevalo
On February 10, SpaceX founder Elon Musk held a presentation about Starship’s development progress at Starbase in South Texas. He gave an inspiring speech in front of the majestic stainless-steel Starship/Super Heavy launch system that is destined to become the world’s most powerful rocket-ship ever developed. He discussed the importance of making life multi-planetary and about the next phase of the development program. Read more: SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk Highlights The Importance Of The Starship Launch System During 2022 Presentation
The SpaceX spaceflight activities at Boca Chica Beach have placed the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) region on the map, brought tourism, and a ton of excitenent surrounding the company’s goal to return humanity to the Moon and land the first astronauts on Mars. SpaceX has also inspired entire new generation of RGV students to pursue careers related to space exploration. In May 2021, Musk pledged to donate $20 Million for local schools and his foundation has already donated a portion of the funds to multiple school districts in Cameron County. Last year, the Musk Foundation donated around $2 Million to Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs. He donated an additional $2 Million dollars in January to continue supporting local students' education throughout 2022.
BISD is thankful for his generous donations and the school district has enabled multiple field trips to the Starbase factory to allow students to see Starship up close and show their support for SpaceX operations. The company also provides students with educational tours of the rocket-ship factory. Most recently, BISD students visited Starbase on February 8 to thank him for his generosity and invite him to the local ‘Charro Days Fiesta’ celebrations. BISD Stell Middle School dance team performed in folkloric attire in front of the STARBASE sign. TESMANIAN supported the students' efforts by creating a video to send to Elon Musk via Twitter, shown below.
The City of Brownsville's annual Charro Days Fiesta is a celebration of the shared culture & friendship between Matamoros, Mexico, and South Texas. We would love to have @SpaceX & @Tesla at the upcoming Charro Parade that is scheduled to take place in mid-February @elonmusk. pic.twitter.com/78SaYlnZri
— Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo (@JaneidyEve) February 8, 2022
The South Texas region shares culture with the bordering city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Since the year 1937, the bordering cities celebrate their friendship with an annual ‘Charro Days Fiesta’ in downtown Brownsville. The celebration highlights their shared Mexican heritage with multiple festive events, including a set of annual parades. The celebrations are scheduled to take place from February 19th through 27th. At the end of the Starship presentation on Thursday, Musk gave the media an opportunity to ask questions. An RGV television news anchor took the chance to ask Musk whether he would attend Brownsville’s Charro Days festivities and Musk happily replied –“… I will be there!” – after the reporter explained that there is Mariachi music, Sombrero Fest, and great food (video clip linked below). Everyone who attended the presentation cheered and were happy that Musk will try to make space in his busy schedule to join some of our local festivities.
ELON IS GOING TO CHARRO DAYS!!!! pic.twitter.com/IgM7U0ADV3
— Jessica Tetreau (@JessicaTetreau) February 11, 2022
BISD students hope to see SpaceX teams participate at the parade, maybe with a unique spaceship float or something special to inspire the children who will be attending (maybe Musk can drive down the street in his Tesla Cybertruck playing maracas with a Mariachi sombrero). Local businesses and organizations decorate floats and dress up in folkloric attire to join the celebrations, while students dance and play music at the parade. BISD Superintendent Dr. Rene Gutiérrez and Brownsville District 2 Commissioner Jessica Tetreau made an official invitation for SpaceX to join the City of Brownsville’s Charro Days Fiesta parade (video below). It is still unknown what the company will do to join the community's celebrations, though it has been confirmed that SpaceX is a partial sponsor of the event, alongside dozens of companies headquartered in South Texas. Read more: Brownsville Students Visit SpaceX Starbase To Invite Elon Musk To The Upcoming ‘Charro Days Fiesta’ Parade
2/2 pic.twitter.com/r6YwvgDmhR
— Jessica Tetreau (@JessicaTetreau) February 12, 2022
🥳 @elonmusk The parades takes place in downtown Brownsville. There is an illuminated nighttime parade on February 25 and a daytime parade on February 26. Companies/organizations design a float & employees participate to celebrate the local culture.
— Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo (@JaneidyEve) February 12, 2022
Info: https://t.co/OZwuhWAFSr pic.twitter.com/Bs0Y7Z2vtT
Featured Image Source: Tesmanian.com / Evelyn J. Arevalo
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.
