Starbase, Texas: SpaceX City Nearly Official After Landslide Vote
“Starbase, Texas is now a real city!” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote Saturday in celebration of his company’s latest victory.
Residents of an unincorporated area in southern Texas voted overwhelmingly Saturday to transform SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility and surrounding area into an official city. The vote passed with 212 in favor and only six against, creating a new municipality that will serve as the launch site for SpaceX’s Starship—the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown.
The newly incorporated Starbase covers about 1.6 square miles of Texas’ southernmost tip. The coastal area houses SpaceX’s headquarters, rocket assembly facilities, and launch infrastructure It’s also where the firm conducts test flights of its massive Starship rocket, which launched for the eighth time in March and could fly again in the coming weeks.
Of the 283 eligible voters in Saturday’s special election, most were SpaceX employees or had connections to the company. Voters also appointed the new city’s first officials, all running unopposed: 36-year-old Bobby Peden, SpaceX vice president for Texas test and launch operations, will serve as mayor, while a pair of commissioner positions will be filled by one current and one former employee.
As a Type C city under Texas law, Starbase will have municipal powers, including planning and taxation, over a population estimated at around 500 people. Previously sparsely populated and known as Boca Chica, the area has been transformed since SpaceX began acquiring land there in 2012.
SpaceX is working with the FAA to significantly increase its launch activities at Starbase. The agency on Tuesday released a final environmental assessment of SpaceX’s proposal to increase Starship and Super Heavy booster launches from five to 25 annually, with 25 landings apiece for each rocket stage. Both Starship and Super Heavy are designed to be fully reusable.
Despite the decisive vote, Starbase’s presence and continued expansion face some opposition. Environmental groups have organized protests against the incorporation, arguing it would give SpaceX greater control over public beach access.
“Boca Chica Beach is meant for the people, not Elon Musk to control,” the South Texas Environmental Justice Network states on its website. “For generations, residents have visited Boca Chica beach for fishing, swimming, recreation, and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe has spiritual ties to the beach. They should be able to keep access.”
Environmental concerns have already resulted in regulatory action. In 2024, SpaceX was fined nearly $150,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for dumping wastewater.
Multiple environmental groups have sued both the FAA and SpaceX, claiming the company’s activities have harmed local habitat and endangered species. After Starship’s debut flight, which ended in an explosion, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that a 3.5-acre fire sparked near the launch pad.
Per a new X account created for Starbase, certification of the vote—which would make the city official—is expected by mid-May. In the meantime, SpaceX is working with “relevant federal agencies” to rename the area and give it a ZIP code, which would allow residents to update their driver’s licenses.
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