SpaceX’s Starbase rocket launch site in South Texas is now officially its own city.
Voters in the South Texas community over the weekend approved making the facility around the Boca Chica Beach area in Cameron County its own municipality. According to the Associated Press, the majority of the voters were SpaceX employees.
About 283 people were eligible to vote; the tally was 212 to 6 in support of the measure, the report said. It’s unclear if CEO Elon Musk voted in the Starbase election.
SpaceX was unable to be contacted for comment. However, Musk celebrated the approval via a tweet on Sunday night, stating: «Starbase, Texas Is now a real city!»
The election stemmed from a petition started late last year that attracted enough signatures to move forward with a vote.
The site, which sits near the Gulf of Mexico, is where SpaceX conducts the launches of its Starship rockets, which are at the center of its ambitions to launch crew and cargo trips to the moon and Mars. SpaceX also runs the Starlink satellite broadband service, which runs its rocket launches at sites elsewhere including NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Last year, the company sought to increase the launch frequency of its Starship rockets from five launches a year to 25 launches at its Starbase facility. The Federal Aviation Administration said at the time it would review the potential environmental impact of accommodating more launches, including impact on wildlife, air emissions, water quality and noise levels.
Some environmentalists contend the launches are affecting the local area. Each launch releases thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater into the environment. SpaceX has already faced more than $150,000 in fees for violations, according to an NPR report.
