Space X Unveil

[Dancer]

Tonight at 9 PM local time, Space X is running live streaming of a new spacecraft. This should be awesome as these folks do things right. I'll miss it unless my wife wakes me up to see it. Check it out.

[Chlorine Tinsley]

I think I read somewhere they may be putting a major space port in the Houston area. That would be cool to get to go see some launches.

[Dancer]

I think I read somewhere they may be putting a major space port in the Houston area. That would be cool to get to go see some launches.

Space X has a facility in south Tx.

[Chlorine Tinsley]

Do you know if they going to have launches from there? or is it just a tracking/communications facility?

[Bob Of Burleson]

SpaceX intends to build Texas spaceport

By Eric Berger
Houston Chronicle

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk on Friday (April 25) said his company intends to build a launchpad near Brownsville, a significant development that could signal the start of a renaissance in Texas spaceflight as manned activity at the Johnson Space Center has ebbed.

At the end of an unrelated news conference in Washington, Musk said his company expects to begin launching its rockets from a pad at Boca Chica Beach on the south coast of Texas.

"We'll probably have that site active in a couple of years," he added.

All the company is waiting for, Musk said, is the completion of an environmental impact study by the Federal Aviation Administration, which should come in the next month or two. An official announcement is unlikely until this summer.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/na ... 430766.php

[Chlorine Tinsley]

thanks Bob. It would be a fun weekend to take SWA to Brownsville, watch a launch, and hang out on the beach at South Padre.

[Bob Of Burleson]

FAA gives SpaceX final approval
for south Texas space port

Mark Whittington
Houston Space News Examiner

The Houston Chronicle reported on Thursday that SpaceX has overcome the final regulatory hurdle for building a space port near Brownsville in South Texas. The company, which is considering sites in Florida and other states, has not made a final decision. But SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested that the Texas site would be the choice if environmental concerns could be addressed.

Since SpaceX first suggested that it may build a space port in the economically depressed area in the Rio Grande Valley, state and local officials have been almost literally moving heaven and Earth to entice the company to Texas. Texas Gov, Rick Perry personally lobbied Musk. Both the Texas legislature and various local governments have kicked in a number of tax breaks and other inducements. The Texas legislature has also passed a law that allows for the closing of nearby beaches during launches.

Provided that SpaceX goes ahead with the Texas space port, it will launch as many as 12 of its Falcon family of rockets per year, including two of its planned Falcon Heavy. It plans to launch a number of commercial and scientific satellites from the space port. It is possible, at least according to the FAA report, that it may launch flights of its Dragon spacecraft from the site as well.

SpaceX derives a number of advantages from having its own space port. Unlike the launch sites at and near the Kennedy Space Center, it would have full control of the flight range. It would not have to delay and reschedule launches if a higher priority space launch.

http://www.examiner.com/article/faa-giv ... space-port