BOCA CHICA

Environmental advocacy group Save RGV plans to appeal a recent ruling regarding SpaceX and beach closures at Boca Chica beach. The environmental group had inititated a lawsuit against the county and the GLO in November 2021, arguing that certain sections of the BH2623, known as the Texas Beach Closure Bill, that allow for public beach closures for space flights are unconstitutional. The lawsuit sought a declaration that certain “county actions are invalid and unconstitutional, namely, issuance of orders allowing the county judge to order the closure of Boca Chica Beach and or State Highway 4.”In response, Cameron County sought a plea to the jurisdiction, stating Save RGV did not establish standing and subject matter jurisdiction and that Save RGV’s lawsuit should be dismissed. Save RGV in a press release stated Rincones’ ruling goes against the people of Texas. “This ruling means that Article I, Bill of Rights, Section 33(b) of the Texas Constitution which states, ‘The public, individually and collectively, has an unrestricted right to use and a right of ingress to and egress from a public beach’ cannot be defended or enforced by anyone,” the SAVE press release stated.

For a second time, Cameron County Commissioners Court discussed SpaceX matters behind closed doors but took no formal action. Juan Mancillas said lack of knowledge by officials about the history of the land that SpaceX wants to use is concerning. The Federal Aviation Administration in June released the results of its Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of SpaceX’s orbital launch plans for the company’s Boca Chica site. The orbital launch would be many times more powerful than the non-orbital Starship test flights that have taken place so far at Boca Chica. The FAA said that it will require SpaceX to take more than 75 actions to mitigate environmental impacts from the proposed orbital launches.

SpaceX's massive Starship project was on the move last week, as its "Booster 7" Super Heavy rocket prototype moved to its South Texas test pad Thursday (June 23).

Will roads owned by Cameron County around the SpaceX Boca Chica launch site be abandoned? Cameron County Commissioners Court this past week was expected to address this issue during a commissioners court meeting but tabled it instead. After going into executive session for about two hours, commissioners court tabled four items pertaining to the Boca Chica site that include consideration and adoption of an order to abandon a portion of Remedios Avenue, Joanna Street, Annette Street and Lucero Court, all located near the SpaceX Boca Chica site. In addition, the court tabled consideration and possible action to adopt a resolution regarding SpaceX Super Heavy Project at Boca Chica Beach. The orbital launch would be many times more powerful than the non-orbital Starship test flights that have taken place so far at Boca Chica.

An early Super Heavy-Starship failure could disrupt SpaceX astronaut fights to space station.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday released the results of its Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of SpaceX’s orbital launch plans for the company’s Boca Chica site.

The FAA found no major show stoppers in an environmental review at a Texas launch site.

The Federal Aviation Administration released the long-awaited results of its Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of SpaceX’s plans for Starship/Super Heavy launches from its Boca Chica site. The agency rendered a mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), clearing a major obstacle for SpaceX to go ahead with the launch, though a launch license has not been granted. SpaceX’s first orbital launch of a Starship/Super Heavy prototype from Boca Chica has been on hold for months while the PEA’s release was delayed several times. The FAA said it will require SpaceX to take more than 75 actions to mitigate environmental impacts from proposed launches. Fish and Wildlife Service, more advance notice of launches will be given to reduce the amount of time S.H.

Elon Musk last week told SpaceX employees the company isn't likely to take its Starlink satellite internet business public until 2025 or later, CNBC has learned.

Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. Passing judgment, where Jesus Christ never did. The right to vote is the remedy for the spread of the American Taliban version of the vile infection of hate. Register to vote and then vote to put this evil back in the cesspool where it belongs. Speak out and let the spreaders of the hate infection know that it is not acceptable.

The Federal Aviation Administration has pushed back the release date of its final Programmatic Environmental Assessment of SpaceX’s Starship development program at Boca Chica/Starbase until next month. The new date is June 13, the FAA said in a statement Tuesday. Depending on the outcome of the final PEA, SpaceX may or may not be granted permission by the FAA for the first orbital launch of its Starship/Super Heavy prototype, which the company has been planning to launch from Boca Chica. “The completion of the PEA will not guarantee that the FAA will issue a launch license. SpaceX’s application must also meet FAA safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements.”

Brownsville received a presidential visit on May 14 when Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo flew in to visit Boca Chica/Starbase and met with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

Have you seen the information from the South Texas Astronomical Society’s Artemis moon mission summer day camp experience out at Rocket Ranch near Boca Chica beach? Were you able to see any of the lunar eclipse? New technologies may reveal more lunar secrets for us even before the Artemis mission launches to bring back more lunar rocks. New information may soon be forthcoming from the various research centers currently working with those old lunar rock samples. What does NOT change are the repeating patterns of star and planetary motion.

The company is using solar panels from Chinese manufacturers Trina Solar backed up by Tesla Power Pack energy storage systems.

The original deadline was Dec. 31, 2021, though the FAA has pushed back the date multiple times since. Depending on the outcome of the final PEA, SpaceX may or may not be granted permission by the FAA for the first orbital launch of its Starship/Super Heavy prototype, which the company has been planning to launch from Boca Chica. “The FAA is working toward issuing the final (PEA) for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy on May 31, 2022,” the agency said in a statement Friday morning. SpaceX made multiple changes to its application that require additional FAA analysis. “The completion of the PEA will not guarantee that the FAA will issue a launch license.

Elon Musk, and the operations at the SpaceX Starbase rocket launch site at Boca Chica Beach, are in limbo created by the federal bureaucracy, and the passage of time is only making matters more complicated. Musk is in a holding pattern, unable to provide information to one agency until he receives information from another.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers informed SpaceX in a letter dated March 7 that its permit application for an expansion of the company’s Starbase complex at Boca Chica has been withdrawn due to lack of information. SpaceX did submit some information to USACE, though the company’s “siting criteria” requiring the use of existing infrastructure “eliminates, without additional considerations, all alternatives not located in Boca Chica,” even though SpaceX has said it is considering additional launch/reentry locations beyond Boca Chica, USACE said. One option is for the FAA to demand a much more comprehensive, time-consuming Environmental Impact Statement in addition to the PEA. “Specifically, SpaceX needs to describe impacts to ongoing operations if the permit is denied,” USACE said. “For instance, in a Feb. 10, 2022 announcement, SpaceX stated they will shift operations to Kennedy Space Center (in Florida) if the FAA requires and Environmental Impact Statement.

The company has been preparing for its first orbital launch of a combined Starship-Super Heavy, from Boca Chica, but first the FAA has to complete the PEA. The release date has been pushed back multiple times, most recently to April 29, the FAA announced recently. So we are actually approved from an environmental standpoint to launch from (launch complex) 39A. If they had been freaked out they would have called us right away — SpaceX, their lobbyists. Even if the first Starship orbital launch does end up blasting off from Florida — SpaceX is building that launch tower at 39A just like the one at Boca Chica — he doesn’t think SpaceX will abandon South Texas.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced this afternoon that it is again delaying the release of the Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of SpaceX’s Starship development program at Boca Chica, or Starbase. Now it will be March 28, according to the FAA, which began the PEA in November. The original deadline for the study’s completion was Dec. 31. The FAA said, however, that “completing the environmental review does not guarantee that a vehicle operator license will be issued to SpaceX.”“The environmental review is just one part of the FAA commercial space licensing process. SpaceX must also meet FAA safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements.”At a Feb. 10 live update at the Boca Chica, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said the company would move the first Starship orbital flight to Cape Canaveral in Florida rather than Texas if the FAA does not issue a launch license for Boca Chica.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, presenting his Feb. 10 update on Starship development live from the company’s Boca Chica site, dubbed Starbase, said the historic first orbital test launch of a Starship-Super Heavy vehicle could be from Florida’s Cape Canaveral rather than Cameron County, depending on the results of a Federal Aviation Administration environmental review expected to be released soon.

Against a gargantuan backdrop of a stacked Starship SN20 and Super Heavy Booster illuminated, along with an equally massive launch tower, by powerful spotlights, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk on Thursday night gave his second presentation on Starship development progress at the company’s Boca Chica site, dubbed Starbase. In attendance were a crowded phalanx of media, local officials, SpaceX employees and others as Musk discussed developments since his last update, which took place at Boca Chica in September 2019. Following his presentation and a video rendering of a Starship flight to Mars, he fielded several questions, some technical and others more general in nature, from journalists. He called that the “worst-case scenario” for Starbase if the FAA decides a more thorough Environmental Impact Statement is warranted, which Musk said could set back launch activity at Boca Chica by months. Long term, Starbase would remain the company’s main research-and-development facility for Starship, he said.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has reassembled the world's tallest rocket ahead of a highly anticipated update on the company's Starship vehicle tonight (Feb. 10).

The resident felt pressure to accept SpaceX's offer on her Boca Chica property because she was told the state could seize it, NBC News reported.

Elon Musk is angry with the lack of progress SpaceX has made in developing the Raptor engines that power its Starship rocket.

Amid decades of sluggish growth here, SpaceX is helping spur a housing boom sparking subdivision developments across town.

The Federal Aviation Administration has plenty to consider from the many public comments regarding SpaceX’s Starship-Super Heavy development program at Boca Chica. The FAA received 121 verbal comments during the two hearings, some from people who spoke during both hearings. Frequent closing of Boca Chica Beach and S.H. “In the very long term, small environmental effects at Boca Chica may end up allowing for drastically less environmental damage worldwide,” O’Halloran said. The agency has set a Dec. 31 deadline for completing the PEA.

SpaceX founder and CEO tweeted last month that the company’s Starship-Super Heavy combination could be ready for its first orbital launch attempt from Boca Chica “if all goes well” and “pending regulatory approval.”

SpaceX founder and CEO tweeted last month that the company’s Starship-Super Heavy combination could be ready for its first orbital launch attempt from Boca Chica “if all goes well” and “pending regulatory approval.”

The billionaire announced the launch of Cybertruck-inspired "Giga Beer," and a Texas brewery may or may not be planning to sell it.

The valuation of Elon Musk's SpaceX crossed $100 billion following the company's latest financing round, CNBC has learned, which was announced this week.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville released a hazardous weather outlook Thursday afternoon affecting the coast.

The Federal Aviation Administration today released a draft programmatic environmental assessment of SpaceX's plans for Starship/Super Heavy development at Boca Chica, with a 30-day window for public review and comment and public hearings scheduled for next month.

The Federal Aviation Administration today released a draft programmatic environmental assessment of SpaceX's future plans for Starship/Super Heavy development at Boca Chica, with a 30-day window for public review and comment.

The Brownsville Housing Opportunity Corporation and Housing Authority of the City of Brownsville cut the ribbon Wednesday on Poinsettia Gardens at Boca Chica, a 150-unit low-income housing development that looks like anything but.

Although Hurricane Grace is now over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and is expected to strengthen Friday, the hurricane will have little impact in the Rio Grande Valley. The National Weather Service in Brownsville reports the main impact for Deep South Texas will be an increased risk of rip currents, increased swells, and coastal runup at South Padre Island and Boca Chica beaches this weekend. Grace is expected to make landfall on the eastern coast of Mexico late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The NWS reports there is also the possibility that some rain bans on the north side of Grace could move across the Valley beginning Friday and will continue into the weekend. There’s a 20% chance of rain Friday with a 30% chance of scattered showers that night, and a 40% chance of showers on Saturday.

SpaceX broke ground in the tiny town of Boca Chica in 2014. Since then, documents show, their presence has been a source of tension between the company and government agencies.

Brownsville has become increasingly thick with SpaceX employees in recent days as the company races toward the biggest launch event so far at its Boca Chica production and test site, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has dubbed “Starbase.”

The first rocket engines to be lit at SpaceX’s Boca Chica site since the May 5 flight of the Starship SN15 prototype roared to life a few minutes after 7 p.m. on July 19.

The FAA warned Elon Musk's SpaceX in a letter two months ago that the company's work on a launch tower for upcoming Starship rocket launches is yet unapproved.

After selling most of his real estate portfolio, the multibillionaire is now living in a 400-square-foot unit on his SpaceX Texas site

Elon Musk's 'primary home' is apparently a little box

SpaceX’s first orbital flight of a Starship prototype will launch from the company’s production/test site at Boca Chica and wind up in the water — on purpose.

SpaceX’s first orbital flight of a Starship prototype will launch from the company’s production/test site at Boca Chica and wind up in the water — on purpose.

SpaceX has finally launched and successfully landed its futuristic Starship.

SpaceX pulled it off Wednesday afternoon, finally launching and landing a full-size Starship prototype without an explosion of any sort. A single engine was reignited for the landing sequence and the SN15 came down at the correct speed for a soft landing. It was the fifth high-altitude flight of a Starship prototype. SpaceX founder and CEO had said SN15 contained hundreds of design improvements after the mid-air explosion of the SN11 near the end of an otherwise successful flight on March 30. “Starship landing nominal!” Musk tweeted shortly after Wednesday’s successful flight.

SpaceX scrubbed Tuesday’s planned launch of the SN15 Starship prototype at Boca Chica for reasons unknown as of press time.

Elon Musk's SpaceX beat Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Dynetics to win nearly $3 billion to build NASA's lunar lander..

BOCHA CHICA, Texas – SpaceX chalked up another failed landing Tuesday for its futuristic, bullet-shaped Starship, as the prototype Mars rocket broke apart right before touchdown. A camera on the rocket froze not quite six minutes into the test flight, and dense fog in South Texas obscured views of the ruptured rocket. This was the fourth full-scale stainless steel model to launch since December to an altitude of more than 6 miles (10 kilometers). “Another exciting test, as we say,” SpaceX launch commentator John Insprucker said as he concluded the webcast. Final view of SN11 in the air:➡️https://t.co/Q2p3q1HS0i pic.twitter.com/PNJta9svkA — Chris B - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) March 30, 2021SpaceX plans to use Starship to send astronauts and cargo to the moon and, ultimately, Mars.

In this image from video made available by SpaceX, one of the company's Starship prototypes fires its thrusters as it lands during a test in Boca Chica, Texas, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Two previous test flights crash-landed in fireballs. The shiny bullet-shaped rocketship remained intact this time at touchdown, prompting SpaceX commentator John Insprucker to declare, “third time’s a charm as the saying goes” before SpaceX ended its webcast of the test. One day, the true measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace.”Musk plans to use Starships to send people to the moon and Mars. Each of these last three test flights lasted 6 1/2 minutes.

SpaceX's Starship prototype exploded shortly after landing for the first time following a high-altitude flight test on Wednesday. The company test flew Starship rocket Serial Number 10, or SN10. The SN10 flight was similar to the ones SpaceX conducted in December and February, when it test flew prototypes SN8 and SN9, respectively. Like SN8 and SN9, the goal of the SN10 flight was not necessarily to reach the maximum altitude, but rather to test several key parts of the Starship system. "Third time's the charm, as the saying goes – we've had a successful soft touchdown on the landing pad," SpaceX principal integration engineer John Insprucker said on the company's webcast

HOUSTON – SpaceX’s prototype Starship SN 10 rocket launched successfully Wednesday during a test flight but exploded moments after a soft landing. So.... congrats and also RIP 🤷‍♂️😂 bye bye SN10, congrats on making history!!!! @spacex @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/FkDTa9ISRi — Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) March 3, 2021The starship lifted off from SpaceX’s launch pad in Boca Chica, TX at approximately 5:13 p.m. The rocket flew to an altitude of about 10 kilometers before returning and completing a soft landing. Moments after touching down on the landing pad, the rocket burst into flames.

The space industry is undergoing a change paradigm that Ark Invest's Cathie Wood believes is dramatically opening the sector to investment opportunities. "The costs associated with launching, with rockets themselves, with antenna – they're all coming down dramatically, thanks to both the private and the public sector," Wood said on CNBC's "ETF Edge" on Wednesday. "On the technology side we see SpaceX and Blue Origin pushing the envelope, so costs are coming down and the technology is finally ready," Wood added. Cathy Wood Crystal Mercedes | CNBCArk Invest last month revealed that it is preparing to launch a space exploration ETF, under the ticker ARKX. Wood declined to comment on the coming ARKX fund, noting that she couldn't yet say anything about her firm's plans.

SpaceXSpaceX completed another monster equity funding round of $850 million last week, people familiar with the financing told CNBC, sending the company's valuation skyrocketing to about $74 billion. The latest round also represents a jump of about 60% in the company's valuation from its previous round in August, when SpaceX raised near $2 billion at a $46 billion valuation. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk raises his arms in celebration beneath a Starship rocket prototype under construction in Boca Chica, Texas. The next Starship prototype is in place on the company's launchpad, with SpaceX expected to attempt another test flight in coming weeks. Starship prototype rockets SN9 (right) and SN10 on launchpads at the company's development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX launched a prototype Starship rocket Tuesday from its Boca Chica, Texas, flight facility, successfully sending the silver booster up to an altitude of about six miles as planned. But the unpiloted test flight ended with a spectacular explosion when the rocket failed to right itself and slow down enough for a tail-first landing. SpaceX's Starship prototype, serial number 9, blasts off from the company's test facility at Boca Chica, Texas, on an unpiloted test flight. Another Starship prototype, SN10, was mounted nearby on its own launch stand and suffered no apparent damage from the explosion of SN9. As with the test flight of Starship SN8 in December, SN9 featured a prototype of the Starship second stage, this one using just three Raptor engines.

BOCA CHICA, Texas – SpaceX’s Starship SN 9 exploded Tuesday while landing during a test flight at the company’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Despite the spectacular end, SpaceX said it considers the test to be a success because of the data that they were able to collect. “So all told, another great (flight) and a reminder: this is a test flight, the second time we’ve launched Starship in this configuration,” Insprucker said. Starship SN 10 sits on another pad in Boca Chica awaiting its maiden flight. You can watch a replay of the test flight below:

SpaceX’s high-altitude test flight for its prototype Starship SN8 ended in an explosion Wednesday as the spacecraft attempted to land in Boca Chica. It was the first test of its kind for the Starship, running all three raptor engines in an attempt to reach a height of more than 41,000 feet. The prototype came in for a landing at an angle before exploded at what appeared to be touchdown. “Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!

In this screen grab from video posted by SpaceX, the company's Starship launches for a test flight, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, in a remote area of Texas. (SpaceX via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown. The full-scale, stainless steel model — 160 feet (50 meters) tall and 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter — soared out over the Gulf of Mexico. The entire flight — as dramatic and flashy as it gets, even by SpaceX standards — lasted six minutes and 42 seconds. “Anybody who knows how hard this stuff is is impressed by today’s Starship test.”Two lower, shorter SpaceX test flights earlier this year from Boca Chica, Texas — a quiet coastal village before SpaceX moved in — used more rudimentary versions of Starship.

BOCA CHICA, Texas – Space fans will just have to wait another day after SpaceX aborted its first attempt at a high-altitude test flight for its SN8 Starship Prototype in Boca Chica on Tuesday. Starship SN8 is expected to fly more than 41,000 feet into the air, do a now-iconic bellyflop or skydiving-like maneuver and then correct itself just before landing on the launchpad. The spacecraft is a two-stage vehicle that founder Elon Musk hopes will one day take as many as 100 people to Mars. It’s the first Starship to be fully outfitted with a nosecone and flaps. You can watch a replay of the first attempt below.

BOCA CHICA, Texas – Another week of waiting in Boca Chica as the SpaceX’s Starship SN8 prototype sits on the launchpad for more than two months now, which is the longest amount of time for any Starship prototype. SpaceX confirmed it will attempt to launch its Starship prototype for its first high-altitude flight Tuesday. Starship is the two-stage vehicle system that founder Elon Musk hopes will one day take as many as 100 people to Mars. South Texas is at the center of it all with the Starship manufacturing and launch facility right there in Boca Chica. Many people will head to Isla Blanca Park in South Padre Island to watch the Starship SN8 launch.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas – The shores at Isla Blanca Park are expected to be the place where hundreds of space enthusiasts and islanders go to watch a test launch across the water at SpaceX’s Starship facility in Boca Chica, Texas. With the Starship SN8 launch teasingly imminent, South Padre Island has found a lot more tourists walking the streets. The view of the SpaceX launch facility just a few miles across the water. “Everybody wants to see it happening,” said James Baxter, a Houston native and South Padre Island transplant. I was so excited!”They don’t think they will leave South Padre Island.

Doug Kinne and his wife, Anna Kinne, are the second generation of Kinnes to retire at their seaside cottage in a quaint, fishing town. “Being that we are five miles away, you’ll see the flash and then you hear it in about four or five seconds,” Doug Kinne said. “Baby Boom, Mama Boom and Papa Boom Bay!” Anna Kinne laughed. “I was like ‘Okay, this is just getting better!’” Doug Kinne said. “This energy has brought all that back and more,” Doug Kinne said.

One look at Boca Chica Beach and one cannot miss the large steel Starship mounted on a launchpad as well as seemingly non-stop construction. One long road leads straight to the Gulf of Mexico, Boca Chica Beach. On Boca Chica land, the Battle of Palmito Ranch was fought. Several Civil War historical markers line Boca Chica Boulevard. Boca Chica is also a known estuary of the Rio Grande Valley, a bird migration route and a place where turtles find respite, crabs and cacti too.

One Houstonian experienced this first-hand and turned his own vision into reality -- creating the ultimate space pad Airbnb for many space enthusiasts to rent. However, 400 miles away in the rugged terrain of Boca Chica, just 8 miles from the SpaceX Launch Facility, he’s managed to create the ultimate space lover’s experience, Rocket Ranch. The multi-room ranch has a full-kitchen, coffeeroom area, living room and outside amenities, filled with decor space enthusiasts would appreciate. Photos of different planets, milestone space exploration achievements and touches of trivial space gadgets fill the space. This all started when he went to see a SpaceX launch at the Cape.

BOCA CHICA, Texas – The remote village of Boca Chica is a place nature has called home. One Starship prototype, Serial Number 8 (SN8) is expected to make a nearly 50,000-foot flight this week--what would be the furthest flight of all Starship prototypes. “I can’t wait to go and see this,” Ray Wysocki, a SpaceX Starship fan who drove his Tesla from Philadelphia. Boca Chica has a rapidly developing private spaceport where the Starship spacecraft will launch. Now, all eyes are on the SN8, which is currently mounted on the launchpad at the Boca Chica facility.

BOCA CHICA – SpaceX successfully completed its highly-anticipated Starship SN5 prototype’s 150-meter hop test at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility Tuesday. Workers continue to build and test Starship prototypes, a spacecraft designed for long-term spaceflight. After the Starship SN5 prototype cleared a major test Thursday, the static fire. All have been waiting to see what would be a truly remarkable hop test. In Monday evening’s attempt, SpaceX founder and Chief Engineer, Elon Musk, said a Raptor engine spin-valve was to blame.

BOCA CHICA, Texas – Boca Chica is a village that was once known for its nature and quiet. When SpaceX came to town, the village transformed into a rapidly developing spaceport poised to launch humans further than they have ever gone. Neighbors say this little village will never be the same.

For now, workers continue to build and test Starship prototypes. The SN5 prototype has passed previous major tests, including a static fire which, after several attempts, successfully completed Thursday, giving the green light for the next major test, the 150m hop. Sometime Tuesday, this Boca Chica community expects to see the Starship vehicle “hop” for the very first time. If successful, a successful SN5 Starship prototype hop would be a landmark first for SpaceX. In August of 2019, SpaceX successfully did this same test with a mini version of Starship called “Starhopper.” Then the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, tweeted “Water towers can fly!”