Starbase Coverage
Every Starbase and Starship story we can find from the past six months, newest first. We did not write these articles: each headline links straight to the outlet that reported it. What we add is the context underneath, tying a story to the flight it covers, the beach closure it caused, or the launch window it moves.
Updated September 25, 2026 · 168 stories
Starbase sits at Boca Chica in Cameron County, Texas, about 23 miles east of Brownsville. It is where SpaceX builds and flies Starship, and it became an incorporated city in 2025. Coverage of it splits in two: national space press follows the vehicle and the test campaign, while Rio Grande Valley outlets follow the permits, the road closures, and what it means for people who live here. Both are below, because you need both to understand what is actually happening.
SpaceX finished Starship's Flight 14 rehearsal, clearing the way for its first orbital flight Monday.
Starship is the fully reusable rocket SpaceX builds and flies at Starbase: the Super Heavy booster plus the Starship upper stage, stacked about 400 feet tall.
The inclusion of the upper stage, tail number Ship 41, comes ahead of a probable fueling demonstration planned in the days leading up to a launch attempt. Starship Flight 14 is scheduled for no...
SpaceX numbers each airframe rather than each flight, so a headline about Ship 40 or Booster 21 is about one specific vehicle, not the mission number.
Starbase officials approved the massive annexation of its city limits expanding its boundaries past 8,000 acres.
Starbase is wedged between a state park and a national wildlife refuge, so SpaceX expanding its footprint there means land swaps and beach access fights, not just construction.
SpaceX rolled Ship 41 to the launch site for stacking with Booster 21, and the...
SpaceX numbers each airframe rather than each flight, so a headline about Ship 40 or Booster 21 is about one specific vehicle, not the mission number.
The first planned orbital Starship mission is scheduled for launch from Starbase in Texas as soon as Sept. 28, pending final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Super Heavy is the first stage, the part that does the initial lift and then either splashes down offshore or flies back to be caught by the tower arms.
SpaceX’s disk-shaped Starfall reentry capsule, first flown on Falcon 9 in June, now has two...
Surviving reentry is the hard part of reusing the upper stage: it comes back through plasma hot enough to strip the ceramic tiles that protect the hull.
SpaceX is now targeting Starship Flight 14 no earlier than Monday, September 28, pending regulatory...
Starship is the fully reusable rocket SpaceX builds and flies at Starbase: the Super Heavy booster plus the Starship upper stage, stacked about 400 feet tall.
SpaceX is now targeting Sept. 28 for Starship Flight 14 from Starbase, a nearly 10-hour mission planned to send the spacecraft around Earth six times.
Starship is the fully reusable rocket SpaceX builds and flies at Starbase: the Super Heavy booster plus the Starship upper stage, stacked about 400 feet tall.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), SpaceX pushed back the target date for its next launch by several days and is now eyeing Monday, Sept. 28, for its Starship 14 test flight. The flight is still...
The city was scheduled to consider SpaceX’s request to bring the property into Starbase less than three weeks after Brownsville gave up jurisdiction over the land.
Starbase is wedged between a state park and a national wildlife refuge, so SpaceX expanding its footprint there means land swaps and beach access fights, not just construction.
Flight 14 would be Starship’s first orbital mission and its first time carrying and deploying Starlink satellites.
Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet constellation. It is the payload on most Falcon 9 launches, which is why those flights come in such steady batches.
SpaceX is targeting Sept. 22 for Starship's first-ever orbital launch, a landmark flight that will deploy 26 Starlink satellites and last about 10 hours.
Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet constellation. It is the payload on most Falcon 9 launches, which is why those flights come in such steady batches.
SpaceX targets September 22 for Starship Flight 14, its first attempt to reach real orbit.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), SpaceX is eyeing Tuesday, Sept. 22, for Starship’s fourteenth flight from Starbase. The company said the flight is still pending regulatory approval, and that...
SpaceX has completed multi-day catch-related testing with unflown Ship 42 at Pad 2, then rolled...
SpaceX numbers each airframe rather than each flight, so a headline about Ship 40 or Booster 21 is about one specific vehicle, not the mission number.
SpaceX has rolled Super Heavy Booster 22 out of Mega Bay 1 to Massey’s for...
Massey's is the test site a few miles inland from the launch pads, where SpaceX pressure-tests and static-fires hardware before it goes anywhere near a flight.
Dive into this diverting sandbox adventure from Introversion before another microsecond lapses.
SpaceX is still building out assembly, test, and launch infrastructure at Starbase while Flight 14...
SpaceX decided to shift all Starlink missions flying on Falcon 9 rockets to the West Coast as it pushes towards the debut of its Starship-Super Heavy in Florida. Liftoff of the Starlink 15-24 mission...
Super Heavy is the first stage, the part that does the initial lift and then either splashes down offshore or flies back to be caught by the tower arms.
As SpaceX prepares to launch Starship Flight 14 in the coming weeks, work in Florida...
SpaceX filed with the FCC for Starship Flight 14, its first true orbital launch attempt.
The last-minute deal followed a raucous six-hour meeting in which police removed several people, and SpaceX declined to give commissioners more time to review.
Starbase is wedged between a state park and a national wildlife refuge, so SpaceX expanding its footprint there means land swaps and beach access fights, not just construction.
SpaceX fired up all 33 engines of its Super Heavy booster to gear up for the next Starship test flight, which will mark the first time the vehicle goes orbital.
Super Heavy is the first stage, the part that does the initial lift and then either splashes down offshore or flies back to be caught by the tower arms.
SpaceX has loaded Flight 13's Starship upper stage onto a ship in the Indian Ocean, more than a month after the vehicle splashed down. It is now headed home to Texas.
Flight 13 flew July 24, 2026 and graded partial: booster lost, ship splashdown. Starship test flights currently end with a controlled splashdown at sea rather than a landing, so recovery means fishing hardware or debris out of the water afterward.
SpaceX announced plans Aug. 25 to build a massive new spaceport for its Starship launch vehicle in Louisiana as the company starts to wind down Falcon 9 launches.
Falcon 9 is the workhorse: a partly reusable two-stage rocket that flies most weeks from Florida and California, and the vehicle Starship is eventually meant to replace.
The funding will widen 14 miles of State Highway 4 from two lanes to four as traffic continues to surge between Brownsville and Starbase.
SpaceX has unveiled plans for “Starbase, Louisiana,” described as the largest private spaceport in the...
A flurry of activity has been underway at the Starbase production site over the past...
A new spaceport will bring 10 launch pads to Louisiana's Gulf Coast and support thousands of Starship launches per year.
Financial coverage of SpaceX matters here for one reason: launch and Starlink revenue is what pays for the Starship program being tested at Starbase.
SpaceX announced today that it would expand its launch capabilities into a new U.S. state: Louisiana. Today, SpaceX, in conjunction with the Louisiana Economic Development Office, said that it will...
The next flight of SpaceX’s Starship is now unlikely to involve an attempt to catch the vehicle’s upper stage back at the launch site as the launch slips into September.
While Ship 40 is preparing to be transported back to Starbase from Christmas Island, Ship...
SpaceX completed a single-engine test-firing of its next Starship spacecraft to prepare for its coming test flight, which will be the first to reach orbit.
SpaceX will likely try to make the first-ever catch of its Starship upper stage a few months from now, according to Elon Musk. He had earlier flagged late August as a potential date for the milestone.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced today that the company will likely attempt to catch the Starship upper stage with its launch tower arms “in a few months.” In a post on X, Musk wrote, “Looks like we...
The tower arms, nicknamed chopsticks, are what stack the rocket and what catch the booster on return, which is how SpaceX intends to reuse it without landing legs.
STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral), The Starbase Police Department is preparing for launch. Starbase began soliciting applications for two police sergeants and six officers in August. They will report...
STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral), The city of Starbase plans to approve a 46% property tax hike in September. Mayor Robert “Bobby” Peden and the City Commission discussed the tax hike during a...
SpaceX has successfully guided Starship Ship 40 to a location just off the coast of...
After Starship's test launch and splashdown last month, SpaceX recovery teams have successfully tugged the vehicle through a turbulent stretch of the Indian Ocean and arrived at calmer waters off the...
Starship test flights currently end with a controlled splashdown at sea rather than a landing, so recovery means fishing hardware or debris out of the water afterward.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), SpaceX announced Tuesday morning that Starship Flight 13 was successfully guided to a location off the coast of Christmas Island after efforts were made to recover...
Flight 13 flew July 24, 2026 and graded partial: booster lost, ship splashdown. Starship test flights currently end with a controlled splashdown at sea rather than a landing, so recovery means fishing hardware or debris out of the water afterward.
WARSAW, Poland, Bulgaria’s government has approved a draft memorandum of understanding with local company Starbase Europe to collaborate on the development of a new space and defense innovation hub
At SpaceX’s Starbase production site, teams are progressing multiple Starship vehicles through the Production Site...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), French sculpture group Atelier Missor has revealed the first look of its 50-foot bronze statue of Prometheus being built in Starbase, Texas. Atelier Missor, a...
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. could expand its industrial operations to another 33.9 acres near Boca Chica Beach, records show.
Boca Chica Beach is the public beach right next to the launch site, reached by State Highway 4, and it closes for launches and some tests.
SpaceX is still towing Starship's upper stage toward shore two weeks after its latest test flight, but the unprecedented effort is unlikely to succeed, according to Elon Musk.
Flight 13 flew July 24, 2026 and graded partial: booster lost, ship splashdown.
Elon Musk has declared that SpaceX has effectively solved one of Starship’s most persistent engineering challenges: the reliability of its heat shield tiles. During the company's first-ever Earnings...
Surviving reentry is the hard part of reusing the upper stage: it comes back through plasma hot enough to strip the ceramic tiles that protect the hull.
SpaceX plans to start deploying upgraded Starlink satellites into orbit on the next flight of its Starship vehicle, scheduled for as soon as the end of the month.
Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet constellation. It is the payload on most Falcon 9 launches, which is why those flights come in such steady batches.
SpaceX is recovering the intact Ship 40 from the Indian Ocean after its soft landing...
SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.
While SpaceX has now flown two flights out of the newly designed Pad 2, crews...