Officials at Texas’ newest city that’s home to SpaceX headquarters and main launch site have moved fast to develop an area that could one day be “the gateway to Mars.”
But the aggressive moves have drawn some controversy as many residents in South Texas have raised concerns that SpaceX, the spaceflight company billionaire Elon Musk founded in 2002, is overstepping.
In the latest developments, officials with the city of Starbase made decisions on June 23 that have drawn outcry from residents in Cameron County. That includes a unanimous vote among the city commission to close several of the city’s public streets to outsiders.
Starbase is central in Musk and his private space company’s ambitious campaign to develop a spacecraft capable of transporting the first humans to Mars in a few years. But as officials look to position SpaceX’s headquarters to facilitate Musk’s cosmic visions, clashes with longtime residents appear to be intensifying.
Here’s what to know.
What is Starbase? What to know about SpaceX city in Texas
In July 2024, Musk announced his intentions to move his company, as well as social media platform X’s headquarters, from California to Texas. The move was in response to his personal frustrations over a public school policy in California regarding transgender students.
Now, the commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas, about 23 miles from Brownsville and about 180 miles south of Corpus Christi.
In May 2025, voters in Cameron County, who are mostly SpaceX employees, approved a measure to officially recognize the company’s headquarters as its own town while electing a mayor and city council.
Starbase, which already has its own account on X, is home to SpaceX’s rocket program and is where the vehicles are both built and often launched. The city designation has been speculated to give greater municipal control of the area to Musk, who has regularly clashed with government regulators over the red tape SpaceX has had to navigate before launches.
Starbase officials vote to restrict access to new town
On June 23, the Starbase City Commission approved requests from SpaceX to install gates near four intersections that would prevent much of the public from accessing a large part of the city.
The decision, which was unanimous, would restrict the public roads with keypad-controlled electronic access gates at Esperon Street, LBJ Boulevard, Memes Street and Saint Jude Street, according to the meeting agenda.
Starbase officials said at the meeting that plans are in place to grant access codes to first-responders, delivery drivers and others with a legitimate purpose in being at the city, according to multiple local reports, including KGBT-TV and the Rio Grande Guardian.
Starbase Mayor Bobby Peden and other officials did not immediately return a message the USA TODAY Network left on Thursday, June 26.
The USA TODAY Network also left a message with the Cameron County District Attorney’s office asking whether Starbase has the legal authority to restrict access to public streets.
The move comes at a time as Starbase officials have aggressively sought to expand and develop the new city, including with the approval so far of more than 100 new residential and commercial building permits.
“Starbase is a city like no other and because we have an active launch site, it’s critical we create a structure where industrial, commercial and residential interests can exist side by side,” the commissioners said in a June 23 letter to residents.
Residents push back against Starbase road closures
In Cameron County, fears have raged among residents and landowners about how Starbase officials could restrict access to public property.
During the recent meeting, about 100 people packed a small meeting room inside the city’s community building to voice their concerns before the measure was passed, reports suggested, including MySanAntonio.
Many were prompted to attend the meeting and speak out after receiving letters from Starbase notifying them that officials planned to approve the area’s first regulations regarding land use.
Elon Musk previously welcomed public to watch launches
The road restrictions come a few weeks after Musk had invited the public in late-May to visit near Starbase to catch a Starship rocket launch from Texas State Highway 4 in Boca Chica.
“Anyone interested in seeing the largest flying object on Earth can come here anytime they want and just drive down the public highway and see it, which is pretty cool,” Musk said. “That highway is public, and you can just come here and do it, which I recommend doing.”
The comments came during a speech shared May 29 on social media site X in which Musk updated SpaceX employees on his plans to send the massive spacecraft to Mars.
Starship explodes during engine test at Starbase
One of the most prominent operations at Starbase is the ongoing development and testing of SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket. Starship, the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, towers over SpaceX’s famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world’s most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet.
The Starship, standing nearly 400 feet tall when fully stacked, is due to play a pivotal role in the years ahead in U.S spaceflight as NASA eyes a return to the moon and Musk has dreams of the first humans reaching Mars.
But the next-generation spacecraft has yet to reach orbit on any of its nine uncrewed flight tests, which began in 2023 and are visible to the public from nearby South Padre Island.
The most recent setback for Starship occurred June 18 when the launch vehicle blew up during an engine test before being mounted to a rocket booster. The mishap, which likely will delay the next launch, occurred after Starship’s first three tests of 2025 all failed to repeat the successes of previous flights.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Starbase officials vote to restrict access to public streets. Residents aren’t happy
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
