SpaceX Works Toward Launches & Boosting Local Ties by R. Daniel Cavazos |
|
|
A nighttime image of the Starship rocket being rolled to its launch pad with the lights of South Padre Island twinkling across the bay underscores a key recruiting tool used by SpaceX.
“It’s a major draw to get talent here,” said Kathryn Lueders, the executive general manager at Starbase on Boca Chica Beach. “The community environment and ambiance are so important. It has been a tremendous draw for us to point out the beautiful beaches we have here.”
Lueders, a former longtime NASA administrator, has been on the job at Starbase since May of this year. Her tenure began just after the April 20 inaugural test launch of the nearly 400-foot-tall Starship, which is described as the biggest and most powerful ever built. Lueders gave an overview of what SpaceX has done since the April 20 launch to a large crowd gathered on Sept. 14 at the Holiday Inn Resort. It was an event hosted by the South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce.
|
|
|
Starbase Executive General Manager Kathryn Lueders says SpaceX is ready for its second launch at Boca Chica Beach. (Island Matters) |
|
Lueders, a former longtime NASA administrator, has been on the job at Starbase since May of this year. Her tenure began just after the April 20 inaugural test launch of the nearly 400-foot-tall Starship, which is described as the biggest and most powerful ever built. Lueders gave an overview of what SpaceX has done since the April 20 launch to a large crowd gathered on Sept. 14 at the Holiday Inn Resort. It was an event hosted by the South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce.
As she described it, one of Lueders’ primary responsibilities is to draw Starbase closer to its area communities. SpaceX has kept a relatively low public profile since coming to the Rio Grande Valley about a decade ago. Little is known of the sort of employees and staff SpaceX employs at its Boca Chica facility where it develops, manufactures, and tests rockets, with Starship being its focal point. |
|
|
At the Sept. 14 event, Lueders shared some insights about those points and others as Starbase images rotated behind her, including the one of the giant rocket with an SPI nighttime backdrop. Some of the highlights included: - Eighty percent of Starbase’s 2100 employees are from the Valley.
-
Local residents fill many of the skills and trade jobs Starbase needs such as welders, crane operators, assembly workers, and in the construction sector.
- SpaceX plans to train and develop local residents in higher technology jobs in systems, navigation, operations, and launch pad design.
-
The workforce at Starbase is diverse, with Lueders saying, “It’s not just single people anymore.”
Lueders made an empathetic point high up in her presentation as SpaceX nears its second test launch of Starship.
“We are staying,” she said. “We will be your neighbors here in the Valley.” |
|
|
Starbase has worked to rebuild Starship's launch pad after the initial launch on April 20. (Courtesy)
- 582C413E: Starship at nearly 400 feet tall towers over Boca Chica Beach and its launch pad is clearly visible from South Padre Island. (Courtesy) |
|
|
Ready For Second Launch
The first Starship launch five months ago drew huge crowds to the Island as thousands witnessed the spectacular launch in clear view across the Laguna Madre.
There’s keen interest in when the second launch will occur. Lueders says SpaceX is ready to launch pending federal approval. Getting that affirmation from the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appears to be weeks, if not months away. The FAA would give preliminary launch approval with a follow-up environmental impact review to be done by Fish and Wildlife.
SpaceX says it has completed the over 60 action items cited by the FAA after the initial launch. Lueders described SpaceX’s relationship with the FAA as good given how the space development company has worked with the federal agency for years regarding rocket launches in Florida. Public reports indicate the FAA is nearing completion of its portion of the review of the first launch. Fish and Wildlife would then take a few weeks to months to complete its portion of the process.
The delays appear to have done little to dampen Starbase’s enthusiasm for the next launch – and the ones to follow. Lueders says SpaceX expects Boca Chica rocket launches to be a regular occurrence in the years ahead. “We plan to give those guys in Florida a run for their money,” Lueders said, referring to SpaceX rocket launches in Florida. “Just watch, we’re going to have dueling launches.” |
|
|
Starship at nearly 400 feet tall towers over Boca Chica Beach and its launch pad is clearly visible from South Padre Island. (Courtesy) |
Sharing Information SpaceX hopes to make its Starship its workhorse for space exploration.
The plan is for the rocket with its size to act as a vehicle to take cargo and humans to the Moon as a waystation for travels to Mars. Those audacious goals line up with the ambitions of SpaceX founder Elon Musk. For those at the Sept. 14 chamber event, the interests were more terrestrial, as in how can the Island do a better job of providing housing and services for SpaceX employees? Lueders said SpaceX needs to do a better job of sharing its employee demographics with area communities and learning with more specificity about the housing, health care, and educational services available in nearby cities. “We have a range of people,” she said, describing the Starbase workforce. “We need to do better in knowing where some of the good neighborhoods and areas to live are in sharing that information with our incoming employees.” Lueders pledged that Starbase employees will become more active in area communities, citing recent beach cleanups as an example.
“We plan to strengthen our ties to the community,” she said. “Cameron County and the area overall has been very good to us.” |
|
|
R. Daniel Cavazos is a Rio Grande Valley native and long time journalist who has worked as a publisher editor and reporter at several South Texas newspapers. Including the Monitor, the Valley Morning Star, The Brownsville Herald, and San Antonio Light. |
| |
|
|
