SpaceX Boca Chica Visit 3/28/2021

SN11 on the Pad and Ready

Why am I here?  Here's the Backstory: Jonesing for a Launch

Clouds and rain blowing in from the east upon arrival at Brownsville Airport (BRO).

Arrival at 2:30p, don't need to check in until 6:30p at Isla Blanca County Park, so time for primary objective: drive out to the facilities at Boca Chica.

I didn't check the weather ahead of time.  Kind of like why I don't check the weather at home.  Weather is unlikely to change my plans.

Banks of low wet clouds are blowing in, intermittent rain.

South of Brownsville is rural: flat and green, grass, shrubs, palmettos, low trees.

Highway 4 goes through the flat green for miles, deflected by water and wetlands.  Reminds me of Florida along the St. Johns River.

There are some oil or shipping structures in the distance here and there.

The road curves to the right, revealing a compact complex of massive silhouettes in the mist.  "Otherworldly" is a bit hyperbolic, but it's definitely an unexpected shock.  Wow.

At this point the scale is like seeing KSC from across the Causeway: remote and about as close as you get without paying money to get closer.

But this is SpaceX.

This is the assembly and production area.  In the beginning they pretty much just started welding metal together in the great outdoors pretty much unprotected.  They build the parts and the part-building buildings as needed - at the same time.  Bootstrapping at its most basic.

The big one is the High Bay, which is just barely tall enough to fit the Starship Super Heavy Booster.  They just finished installing the gantry crane in it.  Elon says there will be a bar at the top.  Hops, anyone?

The Mid Bay fits the Starship, which for now is the flying part, but ultimately Starships will be mounted atop the Boosters.   

That's the nose cone of SN15 on the left and the Lunar Starship mockup or the right with "tube rings" strewn about.

Inside the High Bay is Booster Number 1 (BN1).  The Super Heavy Boosters are the largest 1st Stages ever built.  Fully Rapidly Reuseable. This one is a production pathfinder.  BN2 will likely fly (with three Raptors (or eight, I forget)) with no Starship on top.  Stacked with a Starship, they'll have 28 Raptors.  Madness.

And don't let the camera angle fool you: High Bay is considerable taller than the Mid Bay.  Boosters are huge!

Okay, driving down the road a bit is the launch and landing (!) complex.  Again: right off the road!

 A little bit closer now...

When you get adjacent to the complex, they have some road barriers set up.  A good place to park and take more selfies.

Below are some shots from adjacent to the complex and from the east of it.

Time now to drive to Isla Blanca County Park to await Launch: Awaiting the SN11 Launch