If there is a leader in the aerospace industry, SpaceX is it.
Elon Musk and SpaceXs influence
Politically, SpaceX is an enormous boon to the United States.
Its billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, has even expressedplans to colonize Mars.
© Robert Kopack
Boca Chica, Texas, is home to SpaceXsflagship assembly and test installation, Starbase.
Fiery explosions on the ground or in the air arent unheard of over the past several years.
Rocket tests inScotland,ChinaandJapanhave all ended in accidents.
A mural of Elon Musk in Brownsville, Texas.
In April 2023, one of SpaceXs prototype Starship rocketsexploded over the Gulf of Mexicoshortly after liftoff.
This is not the only time that arocket has explodedat places where SpaceX operates.
SpaceX runs a compact though growing operation at Boca Chica that has transformed the area.
In December 2022, I visited a luxury campground near Starbase.
The event did produce valuable data on the rockets performance it has done little to tarnish the companys reputation.
There is tremendous support for SpaceXin Texas.
The company haspromised to drive high-tech industry jobsinto a region ranked among the countrys poorest.
SpaceX has created about 2,100 jobs.
Our local beach is the laboratory, local activist Hinojosa told me.
These groups argue thatSpaceX misled state and federal regulators about Starbases operations.
Some key issues these groups are fighting against include a bidto expand Starbaseinto more protected areas.
The company has denied any wrongdoing andrefutes claimsof environmental harms.
The narrative that we operate free of, or in defiance of, environmental regulation is demonstrably false.
So, what does the future hold?
Many people from conservation agencies, activist groups and Indigenous communities in Texaswant the company out.
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