Child like visions filled my head as I cruised down the mundane back road county highway. Two lanes were sandwiched in by dried up salt marshes and prickly pear while the world seemed composed of a vast amount of nothingness.
Those visions, reminiscent of sci-fi tales complete with martians arriving with UFOs, weren’t too far from the reality I was attempting to reach. Starbase Texas, the first step in SpaceX’s mission to become interplanetary, was under construction down the road and rumor was that their starship prototype SN10 was set to do a test launch this coming week.
It’s hard to describe the feeling that overcame me the moment the base started to appear on the horizon. The silhouettes of cranes and boxes grew into towering behemoths and as I passed the first building, a small yelp escaped as I saw what it held inside.
A Starship.
Instantly, my whole being filled with glee. It was as if I was 10 year old again as dreams of going into space started to flood my brain. Behind that building was an entire production facility where they were building the ships. Giant stainless steel rings were being fused together to form the outer casings while a profusion of construction went on all around.
Not much further down the street was the real star of the show. A dedicated launch pad complete with SN10 ready to be tested.
The most spectacular thing, the pad was literally right next to the road. Not ten feet away from where you could park was a chain-linked fence with the ship on directly on the other side. The awe inducing aura it gave the atmosphere was ineffable in nature.
It was hard for me to fathom that all of this was just there. That it really existed. That I could come right up to it. I could smell the oil and hear the blow torches.
Everything was so real.
The evening was starting to take hold while rays of golden light reflected perfectly off of the mirror like finish of the rocket. I watched as the sun started to fade into another realm.
Someday, we would be up in that realm and sitting in front of me, was the first attempt to actually colonize something up there. It was quite possibly one of the most important things that would happen in the history of our species, somewhere along with inventing the wheel.
And it was sitting here right in front of me.
I thought about the early days of air travel, before there was any infrastructure. I imagined old dust covered sepia photographs that captured groups of people coming out to fields to see the new flying machines. There were no airports. Nothing was built yet. It was all so new.
Now history was once again repeating itself.
No infrastructure, no fences, one road, lots of photos and one giant metal structure with a goal of reaching furthur than any human had before.
Closest Supercharger Brownsville TX 25 mi
2155 Paredes Line Rd, Brownsville, TX 78526
Space X Launch Facility
52448-, 54298, Boca Chica Blvd, Brownsville, TX 78521
