The first launch of SpaceX’s Starship off Boca Chica Beach was spectacular even as it fell short of its goals and ultimately blew to pieces over the Gulf of Mexico.

Some of the debris from the sky and launch pad would fall and settle over Port Isabel, causing consternation there to go with stern words from the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency said it would review safety and public health issues before authorizing a second launch after the initial April 20 liftoff. The technicalities of fixing first launch deficiencies and satisfying FAA concerns has hardly diminished the enthusiasm of South Padre Island’s tourism industry leaders.

Days after the launch, Blake Henry of the local convention and visitors bureau declared South Padre Island as being the new “Texas Space Coast.” The Island’s front row view across the Laguna Madre to the Boca Chica launch pad attracted tens of thousands of visitors to SPI to view the fiery liftoff. Henry, the executive director of the Island’s CVB, said he and his staff are developing “new experiences” to help visitors plan trips geared to future SpaceX launches.

“SPI offers the best rocket view,” Henry said. “We are inspired to deliver the best rocket launch experience to all.”

Lift Off To New Experiences

Joe Vega knew the first Starship launch would be big whenever the long-awaited first launch day arrived. 

It looked to be April 17 but that planned launch fizzled. It was a bit of a test run for Vega, the Cameron County parks director. When a second try was to be attempted three days later, Vega got to the Island early that day, as in 2:30 a.m. Traffic crossing the Queen Isabel Memorial Causeway into the Island was already backing up. Charter buses and shuttles were leaving visitors off in droves as they sought choice viewing sites across the water to Boca Chica.

“People were getting here from all over the country and the world,” Vega said. “I know of visitors who came from Australia.”

Vega dealt with traffic issues while Henry and his staff began to figure out how to capitalize on a tourist attraction that only a few years would have seemed unimaginable. Rocket launches in the Rio Grande Valley is a concept that still seems new and farfetched, but the spectacle of April 20 made it real. The tallest and most powerful rocket ever built lifted off from a formerly remote Boca Chica Beach, leaving spectators in awe of the immense ground smoke and power it generated.

For Henry, it “kicked off the official start of space tourism.”

“When the rocket lifted off,” he said, “you could not only feel the energy of the liftoff, but the energy of the all the people witnessing history being made on South Padre Island.”

Revising Marketing Plans

From here, Vega will go over how his staff did in working with the South Padre Island Police Department to deal with the crush of traffic of the first liftoff.

“We’ll learn from the first launch,” Vega said. “We can always improve and do better the next time.”

Henry, meanwhile, is revising marketing campaigns to feature rocket launch experiences and promoting the view the Island provides to SpaceX and its towering Starship. The space coast, as Henry describes it, could significantly boost off-season months in the fall and winter should the launches become more routine. SpaceX is pledging it will be ready for another launch in the next few months but the FAA has given no indication when it will approve a second liftoff.

Vega, the parks director, believes it will inevitably happen again. He is enthused about the Island’s capabilities to capitalize on the new attraction while the county promotes its Isla Blanca Park as the place to be for rocket launches.

“It brought great exposure for the park and the Island,” he said. “There’s no doubt it increased tourism with all of our first-time visitors. I hope they come back. The Island has many wonderful things to offer.”

It’s on to the second launch with hopes it will be by year’s end for an Island still buzzing about what it saw on April 20.