Tag Archives: SpaceX

Colleges Create Programs To Fit Needs

A wide array of technical skills are in demand as industrial activity ramps up in the Rio Grande Valley. (Courtesy)

SpaceX has more than gained a foothold in southern Cameron County with its imposing rockets looming over Boca Chica Beach. More than 2,000 employees work at Starbase, a production and launch site just across the Laguna Madre from South Padre Island. Keeping such a large operation going as it pursues audacious goals related to space travel requires vast amounts of skill and know-how from its teams of employees. South Texas…

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SpaceX, LNG Put RGV On Industrial Map

RGV students receiving technical training will be in high demand in the region with emerging companies setting up large operations in Cameron County. (Courtesy)

For decades, the scenario was the same for Rio Grande Valley residents when it came time to make job choices after receiving their technical training and education at area colleges. The better jobs and higher pay were elsewhere. Be it at the Port of Houston or jobs at aviation manufacturing facilities in California, Valley natives searched nationwide for careers that could match their aspirations. That equation is beginning to change…

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SpaceX Aims For Launch Amid Reviews

Eighty percent of Starbase’s workforce at Boca Chica Beach are Rio Grande Valley natives. (Courtesy)

SpaceX has completed a months-long process it says shows compliance with federal requirements that would authorize the second launch of the Starship rocket. The nearly 400-foot rocket currently sits on its launch pad on the shores of Boca Chica Beach. The initial Starship launch occurred on April 20. The rocket, which is described as the largest and most powerful ever built, got off the ground in spectacular fashion. Thousands of…

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SpaceX Readies Starship For Second Launch

Starship lifts off on April 20 before disintegrating over the Gulf of Mexico. (Courtesy)

SpaceX‘s Starship rocket is ready for its second launch, awaiting federal approvals, and eager to improve over an April launch that successfully lifted off but disintegrated over the Gulf of Mexico four minutes into flight. Kathryn Lueders, the new executive general manager at Starbase on Boca Chica Beach, gave that assessment on Thursday at an event hosted by the South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce at the Holiday Inn Resort.…

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Launch Lifts SPI To New Possibilities

Visitors to South Padre Island watched in awe as Starship lifted off in spectacular fashion from Boca Chica Beach on April 20. (Courtesy)

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…

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SpaceX’s Reach Goes Beyond Rocket Launches

Elon Musk and SpaceX recently declared they were “one step closer to the first orbital flight test of Starship.” The reference was to the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket that’s perched at Starbase on Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville. The Federal Aviation Administration announced in June after a two year-study that SpaceX could expand its footprint on Boca Chica. The FAA, however, did not grant a rocket launch license. It cited 75…

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State & RGV Economies Outpacing National Trends

Salvador Contreras of UTRGV gives an overview of banking and investment trends at a recent conference.

The Texas economy has regained its jobs lost from COVID-19-related challenges and the Rio Grande Valley has largely done the same. Roberto Coronado, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, made that assessment recently at the RGV Partnership Economic Outlook Luncheon in Harlingen. Joining Coronado were a roster of speakers that gave insights on banking, retailing, housing and other key economic indicators heading into the remainder of…

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TSC, BISD, SpaceX Give Students A Rare Look

TSC’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers middle and high school students from Brownsville Independent School District tour SpaceX as a way to expose students to STEM careers in the region. (photo TSC)

Brownsville Independent School District students from the Texas Southmost College Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers recently had the rare opportunity of touring SpaceX and its Starbase launch site.  SpaceX hosted nearly 100 students during a pair of one and half hour tours through their center. Hopes of the visit are to increase career and job opportunity awareness in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.  The tours were…

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SpaceX Launches Waves Of Hope

A mural of SpaceX founder Elon Musk on a downtown Brownsville building.

The city of Brownsville for decades had a motto that was simple and got to the point about the city’s allure. “On The Border By The Sea,” was the saying often attached to city marketing and official communication. As of a few months ago, Brownsville’s signature saying was altered to reflect recent developments. “On The Border By The Sea – And Beyond!” is the new slogan.  Brownsville has fallen for…

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Brownsville To Host Expo Featuring Job Openings

City and private sector employers gather to announce a jobs expo coming up in Brownsville on June 28.

The City of Brownsville and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation are teaming up to host what it is the largest in-person career expo in the Rio Grande Valley. Careers And Coffee takes place on June 28 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Brownsville Events Center. There will be no entry fee. At a June 10 press conference, GBIC and city officials, along with employers present, said more than…

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