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The SPI Chamber of Commerce held a Coffee and Conversation meeting featuring SpaceX at the Holiday Inn Resort on Thursday, with Kathryn Leuders, the Executive General Manager at Starbase in Boca Chica, as the guest speaker. Leuders provided some useful updates on the progress of SpaceX as well as a timeline of when they hope to launch once again following their first in April.
Starship, the rocketship used in the first launch and what they will use for the second, is currently sitting at 394 feet tall and weighs 16.7 million pounds, making it the most powerful rocket used in history. For comparison, it is about twice the size of NASA’s Saturn V, which was used in the Apollo missions.
Their first flight in April reached 24 miles in altitude over the Gulf of Mexico. Leuders says they learned a great deal from the test launch in both ground and vehicle infrastructure and how to improve their future flights.
Leuders says one of their biggest challenges is finding employees homes and property to both rent or buy in Cameron County, depending on the employee, and that is something they are working through.
For environmentalist concerns, they are working with both fish and wildlife organizations to ensure the safety of the outside environment. Leuders says that employees also help with Sea Turtle rescues at Boca Chica.
So, everyone wants to know: When’s the next flight?
Leuders couldn’t provide a specific date but says they are ready. Starship and the heavy boosters stack on September 9th. First, they need to go through the FAA (Federal Aviation Association) testing to make sure everything is approved. Leuders hopes that the testing will be done in the next couple of weeks, which will provide a better indication of the date of the second launch.
