How to see SpaceX’s Starship in
Florida
At one time, SpaceX was intending to build its (then
composite construction) Starship rocket – their new
heavy lift vehicle for deep space Mars missions as well as orbital and perhaps
point-to-point Earth transport as well - at the LA docks. But in the meantime,
SpaceX radically changed the design to use polished stainless steel in place of
composite and moved fabrication (of the testbed, at least) to Texas.
A strange (for the aerospace industry) rapid prototyping
effort saw a shiny, if rough-looking, rocket begin to take shape at SpaceX’s Boca
Chica lot on the Texas coast. That first test article was fitted with fuel and
oxidiser tanks and put through a tethered fire of a single Raptor engine. Then
a taller version, intended for hop flights and maybe even orbital tests, began
to grow from its Texas weed patch. The world watched fascinated to see where
this strange and fast build would go next. More engines? A taller rocket? A less
rough and ready test article? No one knows except Musk and a few SpaceX
employees.
For SpaceX fans wanting to see for themselves, the problem was
the remoteness of the location. Boca Chica is nowhere near anywhere. No chance
of slipping a visit innocently into a family summer vacation. Then someone
discovered that SpaceX had been secretly developing a second Starship in parallel. That second Starship
is under construction at a much more accessible location, near Cape Canaveral in
Florida.
I recently went to see a SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch at the
cape, so I thought I would track down the Florida Starship
whilst I was there and report back.
Where is it?
In contrast to Boca Chica, the Florida Starship
will likely launch from one of SpaceX’s existing launch facilities – either from
LC-39A where they launch the Falcon Heavy, or LC-40 at nearby Canaveral
Airforce Station that currently hosts missions to the ISS. Consequently, SpaceX
have chosen a location in nearby Cocoa with easy access to those launch sites.
The site they chose was originally a steel fabricator, for
obvious reasons. In fact, the yard is still labelled ‘Coastal Steel’ on Google
maps, which makes it hard to find.
The site is accessed by Sidco Road,
a turn off west of Highway 1, just south of the intersection with Highway 528,
the turnpike from Orlando to Port Canaveral. The old Coastal Steel lot is right
at the very end of Sidco Rd, which traverses a mile
or two of run-down industrial estate beforehand. You can’t miss it, because Sidco Road ends at a wide turn-around with the gates to
SpaceX at the very end. The main fabrication shed is on the right. Starship is currently being assembled to the left of that
shed.
What I Saw
Compared with, say, the enormous rocket factory Blue Origin
is building a few miles to the north east, just outside the Kennedy Space
Centre Visitor Complex, the SpaceX site on Cidco Rd
isn’t much. But compared with other companies nearby it looks clean, tidy and well
organised. The guards have SpaceX logoed caps and the security truck has SpaceX
on the side, but when I went there was no SpaceX sign on the gate or buildings yet.
The guard was friendly, so I parked up on the turn-around and
peered over the fence. What I saw was a big silver rocket climbing above the
large shed you can see on Google maps. Working on the silver rocket were a
couple of hard-hatted guys in a cherry picker. Within the shed was another cylindrical
rocket section and behind the shed and half hidden from the road was another,
taller section of rocket fuselage in the same polished stainless steel. There
was no sign of the Raptor rocket engine that others had photographed recently;
perhaps it was underneath the big black tarp’ I saw at the rear of the shed.
When you go, things will doubtless have moved on, which is
why the place is an exciting visit: SpaceX is working rapidly and progress will
likely be apparent from week to week, in contrast to other rocket projects
where nothing seems to change from one year to the next (I’m looking at you,
NASA and SLS) and happen inside and out-of-sight anyway.
SpaceX Starship prototype in
Florida
Another section waiting to be welded into the growing Starship
The SpaceX site at Cidco Road in
Cocoa, Florida, with another section of rocket
Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre – a possible
launch site for Starship test articles
Summary: SpaceX’s Florida Starship is an easy and
interesting side-trip on a visit to Cape Canaveral or Orlando. No one seems
bothered if you rock up and take a few pics over the fence.