Commercial Space Operations
Boca Chica Launch Site
The Boca Chica Launch Site consists of a vertical launch area (VLA) and a launch and landing control center (LLCC). The VLA is approximately 2.2 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border and the LLCC is approximately 1.3 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border. The VLA is directly adjacent to the eastern terminus of State Highway 4, which provides the only access to the public Boca Chica Beach. The LLCC consists of a two-story building (referred to as Stargate) and is located west of the VLA along State Highway 4, adjacent to the SpaceX manufacturing and production area.
The launch site is located in a sparsely populated coastal area adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico and ecologically unique public lands owned by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The area is characterized by marsh and barrier island plant communities, shallow open water, algal flats, and unvegetated tidal flats. Uplands consist of low, newly forming sand dunes with their anchoring vegetation amidst bare sand flats. The open water areas are fringed with black mangroves and vegetated with seagrasses. Small, ecologically unique clay hills, known as "lomas," support a diverse group of rare plants and terrestrial wildlife, including the federally endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.
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