SpaceX founder Elon Musk is establishing the ‘Gateway to Mars’ at Boca Chica Beach in South Texas, where engineers are developing the Starship launch vehicle at the Starbase facility. On Monday night, Musk shared a video of the rocket factory –“From the top of Starbase high bay.” The video shows an incredible view of the from above the 265-feet-high vehicle assembly building. Musk says he is transforming the top portion of the high bay into a ‘bar’ area. “[…] SpaceX is building a futuristic bar at the top of the high bay with 360-degree windows and a glass floor looking down on the rocket factory,” Musk said earlier this year. The giant high bay is still under construction, the windows have not been installed yet (video below).
From the top of Starbase high bay pic.twitter.com/kRtJBrwrqW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2021
The high bay that will feature a bar above is located to the left of this photo. Source: Tesmanian.com
Musk also shared that two stainless-steel Starship/Super Heavy prototypes are under assembly inside the high bay buildings. “Stacking Super Heavy Aft Section,” he captioned another image on Twitter, shown below. Super Heavy is the rocket that will propel the Starship spacecraft to orbit. The company targets to perform the first orbital flight test before this year ends, could take place as soon as this Summer. Musk plans an ambitious orbital flight attempt, according to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing, SpaceX seeks authorization to launch Starship from Boca Chica Beach to orbit and land it off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. SpaceX teams are rapidly building a 400-foot-tall orbital launch tower to support the launch and the stacking operation of Starship atop the giant Super Heavy booster. Once stacked the vehicle will be 230-feet-tall.
Stacking Super Heavy Aft Section pic.twitter.com/itydacQ4hM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2021
SpaceX plans to transform the small Boca Chica beach village into a spaceport and resort, where employees could enjoy living and working towards the development of the spacecraft that will help transform humans into a multiplanet species. –"SpaceX is committed to developing revolutionary space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets. Boca Chica Village is our latest launch site dedicated to Starship, our next-generation launch vehicle. SpaceX is committed to developing this town into a 21st-century Spaceport," the company wrote in an August 2020 job listing, seeking to hire a 'Resort Development Manager.' SpaceX has not initiated the construction of its 'resort' yet, so far, only a shiny outdoor restaurant made out of Starship stainless-steel fins can be seen down the Highway-4 road. The restaurant will provide meals for SpaceX employees, pictured below. Local reports state the company is purchasing lands surrounding its Starbase facility that will likely support SpaceX operations.
Image Source: Tesmanian.com
About the Author
Evelyn 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.
