Pilgrimage to Starbase, next stop Planet Mars
Story and photos by John Post
I became a “rocket head” growing up in the South Bay during the 1960s space race. I photographed five Space Shuttle launches from the press site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the 1990s and early 2000s.
In more recent years, I’ve watched SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, do something most thought impossible — launch a reusable rocket into earth’s orbit and return it safely to earth. SpaceX’s Falcon rockets appear to defy logic when they land vertically.
Now, in the remote area of Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX is accomplishing something even more unbelievable.
I had heard about Elon Musk’s vision to build the biggest rocket ever and to develop the technologies necessary to make human life multiplanetary.
By 2016, SpaceX had begun building and flight-testing rockets to test that vision. That testing led to Starship.
Starship is a super-heavy-lift rocket designed to carry a huge cargo, and a crew of astronauts into deep space.
Starship looks like it was built for a 1930s’ Buck Rogers movie. It is made of stainless steel, Musk’s favorite material. It stands 397 feet tall. The first stage is 232 feet tall and the second stage 165 feet. It is 29.5 feet in diameter. The first stage has 33 rocket engines producing over nine million pounds of thrust. And it is designed to be reusable.
After watching videos of the first three Starship launches I hoped to see a Starship launch in person. But with the Starship base being so remote, one doesn’t just pop in for a visit.
Then I realized I would have my opportunity.
I had already made plans to see the Total Solar Eclipse near Junction, Texas on April 8. So I decided after witnessing the eclipse I would make the long trek down to the southernmost point in Texas to visit the “Gateway To Mars” Starbase.
After driving across miles of empty wetlands, over a potholed road, I saw what looked like a mirage, a massive assembly of buildings, including the 480-foot-high Starship launch tower (the tallest in the world).
Starbase is a beehive of activity. Big trucks going here, giant cranes going there, new rockets and a second launch tower being built. No big, first stage boosters were outside, but standing in the Starbase “‘Rocket Garden” were three 165-foot tall Starships in various stages of preparation. And I could see another one being finished in one of the huge high-bays.
While at Starbase I met a constant flow of other “rocket heads,” folks from all over the world who had also made the long pilgrimage to Boca Chica. Everyone had the same reactions: “It’s amazing to be able to get so close to everything,” and “Wow, the future happening in real-time.”
The price for a trip to Mars no longer costs 10 cents, like the early photographs promised. But it is no longer only a fantasy.
Starship’s fourth test on June 6 achieved all its goals, including returning safely to earth. For more on Starship and Starbase visit:
Spacex.com/updates/#make-life-multiplanetary
Starship: spacex.com/vehicles/starship