Elon Musk’s SpaceX Town Becomes Starbase, Elects Bobby Peden as Mayor.
What began as a nickname has now become official: the small community surrounding Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility in southern Texas has voted to rename itself Starbase.
On Saturday, 212 of the nearly 300 eligible residents voted in favor of the change, while just six opposed it. Most of those living in the area, located on Boca Chica Bay near the Mexico border, either work for SpaceX or reside on company-owned land.
Bobby Peden, who serves as SpaceX’s vice president of testing and launches, was also elected mayor. He was the only candidate on the ballot.
Now, it is official! https://t.co/98XWq6Bt4f
— gorklon rust (@elonmusk) May 5, 2025
“Starbase, Texas, is now a real city!” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns.
Official records list nearly 500 people living around the site, which sits in Cameron County.
The new city status will give Starbase control over local regulations, building permits, tax collection, and the ability to write its own municipal laws – changes expected to streamline SpaceX’s operations in the area.
The idea for Starbase wasn’t new. Musk first floated the name four years ago during a visit to the rocket launch facility.
In December 2024, SpaceX general manager Kathryn Lueders submitted a formal request to local officials to incorporate the area as a city.
While the vote’s outcome was never in serious doubt, not everyone welcomed the change.
Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, raised concerns before the vote about the potential environmental fallout from further development.
“They would attempt more illegal dumping,” she warned. “They’d expand their dangerous rocket operations, cause more seismic activity, and destroy more of the wildlife habitat in the region.”
Criticism over SpaceX’s environmental record is not new. In 2024, reports surfaced claiming rocket tests had damaged wild bird nests.
Elon Musk responded with characteristic sarcasm: “To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week.”
The Environmental Protection Agency and Texas regulators also found that SpaceX was responsible for several pollutant releases and spills into nearby waterways over the past year.
Lueders, however, argued that the company already maintains much of the community’s infrastructure, including roads, educational programs, and even medical services. She pledged that the new city’s creation would not undermine environmental protections.
The transition comes at a complicated moment for Musk. Once a vocal supporter of government streamlining, he is reportedly stepping back from some political efforts to focus on his struggling electric car company, Tesla.
Elon Musk, a prominent donor to Donald Trump and certain far-right European groups, has said little publicly about the shift.
For now, though, residents of the newly minted Starbase seem eager to embrace the future Musk envisions – regulatory challenges, rocket launches, and all.
Starbase Snapshot
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SpaceX began building its Boca Chica launch site in 2014, with its first test flight in 2019.
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Elon Musk first mentioned the name “Starbase” in 2021, calling it the future “gateway to Mars.”
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The Starship rocket, designed for Mars missions, is primarily tested at the Starbase facility.
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Cameron County, where Starbase is located, is one of the fastest-growing regions in Texas.
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Environmental groups have raised concerns about SpaceX’s impact on endangered species, including the piping plover and Kemp’s ridley sea turtle.
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Starbase is one of several private spaceports in the U.S., but it’s the only one now incorporated as a city.
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