On Saturday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was voted to establish itself as the city of Starbase in Texas.
Residents of Cameron County, primarily SpaceX employees, supported the move with a decisive vote of 212-6. Musk took to his social media platform, X, to celebrate, proclaiming that Starbase is “now a real city.”
Only 143 votes were needed to create this city, situated along the U.S.-Mexico southern border in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Becoming a city will help us develop the best community for future human habitation in space,” the city’s X page shared.
According to Cameron County election manager Remi Garza, Starbase will be officially recognized as a Texas municipality once a county judge certifies the election results.
This new city formation comes after Musk’s announcement last July, which followed California’s passage of a bill concerning transgender students that prompted SpaceX and its headquarters move out of the state.
SpaceX’s activities in the area began over a decade ago when the company started acquiring land in 2012 and officially progressed after Congress passed legislation in 2014 allowing exceptions to public beach access laws.
Initially, some residents were resistant to the billionaire-led changes. Celia Johnson voiced her concerns back then, saying, “SpaceX bullies us from the start,” alleging that the company had attempted to buy her home multiple times.
Musk once remarked that the area had ample land free of inhabitants, suggesting that if something were to explode, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
In 2021, a test flight resulted in an explosion at a Texas facility, scattering debris that required three months to clean up. Additionally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has flagged several regulatory issues related to SpaceX to the Federal Aviation Administration.
