Elon Musk has had a trying time of late, but the imminent realization of a long-held vision for SpaceX and its consituents signals a turning point. This aspiration involves the formation of Musk’s own township at the southern end of Texas. A symbolic number of residents initiated voting on the matter on Tuesday, marking the inauguration of what could potentially be a new town named Starbase, Texas.
A solitary placard on State Highway 4 marked the site of the only voting center on Tuesday, promising the emergence of an incorporated town on a narrow strip of land in South Texas. The vote’s central proposition was to officially name this new town Starbase, Texas, a dream Musk has held for a long time as the future home of his rocket company, SpaceX, and the 3,500 people it employs.
Most fittingly, voting transpired within a SpaceX building usually off-limits to the public. The recent weeks have been particularly challenging for Musk, with Tesla reporting a steep decline in profits, seeing a 71 percent drop within the first quarter of the year.
Furthermore, Musk’s substantial fortune has taken a hit with the ongoing dip in the company’s stock price. His role in downsizing the federal government has also earned him much reprisal across various regions of the country. However, the Starbase vote is a glimmer of hope for the mogul.
It was slightly more than four years ago that Musk first mentioned the possibility of renaming the coastal marshland where SpaceX manufactures and launches its rockets. Initially, the new name of Starbase seemed to be a sufficient change.
However, with the company’s increasing expansion, the relocation of its corporate headquarters, and a surge in housing construction to accommodate its growing workforce, Musk aspired to more than just a name; he wanted an actual town.
Now that the vote is in motion, this dream could become an official reality by May 3, at the end of Election Day. Only a small group of voters participated on the opening day of the early voting period.
In truth, only 279 individuals were eligible to vote, 90 percent of whom have migrated to the area and registered since the beginning of 2024, according to record-keeping measures. Reaching around 1.5 square miles, the proposed city is slightly larger than Central Park and would chiefly house SpaceX employees and their kin.
Voting terminates on May 3. While a tiny town in the grand scale of things, it was a town that Musk longed for.
And the inhabitants, it seems, are likely to grant his wish, albeit somewhat reticently and without drawing attention to the matter.