STARBASE, Texas — On a scorching August afternoon in south Texas, Bekah Hinojosa, the co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Center, blasts the A/C in her car.As she drives down Highway 4 towards Boca Chica Beach, large 18-wheelers and silver glistening Cybertrucks zoom past her on the opposite lane."This road is always under construction," said Hinojosa."SpaceX is rapidly colonizing and changing the entire landscape of Boca Chica."Very soon the newly created city of Starbase, and Elon Musk's SpaceX, could change this area by the Gulf of Mexico, even more.
This city was established in 2025 and is now asking its residents to consider annexing around 7,100 acres of surrounding land, including state and private property.The city was created, in part, as a way to help grow its SpaceX workforce and increase its capacity for developing, and the manufacturing needed for more rocket launches.In April of 2025 the Federal Aviation Administration approved SpaceX's request to increase launches from its Boca Chica Launch Site.These operations include, "up to 25 annual Starship/Super Heavy orbital launches, up to 25 annual landings of Starship, up to 25 annual landings of Super Heavy, and vehicle upgrades," according to the FAA document.All this is part of Musk's stated plan to build a complex from where SpaceX could launch humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars.The current SpaceX complex is home to launch pads, manufacturing and test sites.Starbase controls road access to a nearby beach, and a nature reserve during launches.According to documents that Starbase provided to neighboring landowners, and has posted on their website, the city said part of what a possible annexation would allow for is, "more efficient coordination with federal and state partners including the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol, U.S.Fish & Wildlife Services and others."Hinojosa grabs her steering wheel and ...