They safely returned again on August 2nd, shortly after the SN5 prototype conducted the long-awaited 150 m (500 ft) hop test at the company’s launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

And now, in a move that mirrors what Virgin Galactic is doing at Spaceport America in New Mexico, SpaceX has committed to turning Brownsville – the town nearest to the Boca Chica facility – into its own spaceport!

SpaceX is hiring a “Resort Development Manager” to develop the Boca Chica Village in Texas “into a 21st century Spaceport” and the company’s first resort.

According to a job posting, Musk hoped to convert the village of Boca Chica into the “SpaceX Village.” This “private spaceport with eyes on Mars” would feature 100 rooms and host activities like volleyball tournaments, rock climbing, kayaking and “spaceport lounge events and parties.”.

That posting was removed from the site shortly thereafter as SpaceX began encountering resistance from the village residents, with half reportedly refusing to sell their houses at many times their market value.

With this latest job posting, it appears that SpaceX is still committed to turning Boca Chica into a facility similar to what Virgin Galactic is establishing in the New Mexico desert.

Given its importance to the realization of Musk’s dream of commercial spaceflights, his goal is no doubt to establish something very similar at Boca Chica.

This news comes shortly after SpaceX posted an application seeking Offshore Operations Engineers and Offshore System Technicians, positions that would also be located in Brownsville and would entail the creation of an offshore rocket launch facility.

Musk explained the purpose of building facilities offshore in a reply tweet issued shortly after the positions were posted, saying:.

SpaceX hinted at what these offshore facilities might look like in an animated Starship video released back in 2017 (shown below).

In that video, the Starship and Superheavy launch system are on a launch platform located off the coast of New York City.

After taking on passengers that are brought to the platform by boat, the Starship flies to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and lands on a similar offshore platform near Shanghai!

The video highlights how, when completed, the Starship/Superheavy – then-known as the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) – could provide intercontinental flights between major cities in about thirty minutes.

Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility continues to grow as development, construction, and testing of the Starship continue.

Although the company acquired the land next to the small village community (populated largely by retirees) to establish their South Texas Launch Facility back in 2013, it wasn’t until 2018 that the site began to experience intense activity!

Since then, SpaceX has expanded its operations in and around the village, often to the consternation of the locals (they aren’t big fans of rocket launches and/or the occasional explosion, apparently!) Hence why SpaceX’s plans to press ahead with the development of the Starship are tied to the continued growth of the facility.