In South Texas, rocket launches are part of a bigger economic shift

A parrot named Fran Fran squawks at the entrance of SPI Excursions. It’s a water tour company right along the ocean on South Padre Island.

“We do parasailing, jet skiing, sunset cruises, dolphin watches, and we do banana boat rides as well,” said owner Brandy Buntin.

He’s a big fan of SpaceX and has expanded his business to include boat rides to see occasional launches, which happen roughly seven miles south of here.

“We've integrated that in, so we actually just go out and watch the launch from a vessel,” he said.

Buntin brings about 50 people out on a boat to watch when SpaceX launches rockets. Other boat companies are out there too. SPI Excursions has seen steady growth. That’s not from the occasional SpaceX boat rides, though he does think they help.

“Definitely not bread and butter, but I mean, any amount of bread or any amount of butter is good,” he said. “We have amazing fishing, amazing parasailing, great food, great people — but now we have rockets that are leaving from our backyard.”

About a 45-minute drive from there is downtown Brownsville, where some walls and businesses have space-themed murals and signs.

The Brownsville economy has long lagged behind much of Texas, with lower hourly earnings and higher unemployment. But as SpaceX has expanded its rocket production and launch facility near the area, analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas shows lower unemployment, higher wages and an uptick in home and retail sales, though exactly how much is attributable to SpaceX is unclear.

Gilberto Salinas, CEO of the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation, remembers the day about 15 years ago when his team visited SpaceX in California.

“We come back to the boardroom, and then in comes Elon Musk. And he starts walking us through the project as well,” Salinas said. “He started getting into the physics of launching the rocket, why it would make sense launching from South Texas.”

That’s when Musk mentioned Boca Chica Beach.

“I was kind of taken aback. It's like, wait a minute, somebody outside of Brownsville, Texas, knows Boca Chica Beach,” he said.

Salinas understood Musk’s vision at the time and had one of his own. Having Starbase—its own launch facility—could redefine Brownsville.

“We could become the next space city … how cool would that be? And that could be a change of brand for us, a change of perception, because at the time, the insecurity on the Mexican side was really starting to ramp up,” Salinas said. “We needed something to help us with the narrative.”

Billions in capital investment later, SpaceX employs more than 4,000 people, most of them locals, according to the company’s website. SpaceX did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story.

Salinas attributes Musk’s big investment to creating more industrial interest in the region.

“I like to say big fish draws other big fish. So there's a lot of momentum in this region right now, and that helped open the door for not one but two LNG plants,” he said.

And that industrial development is part of why Michelle Espinosa is studying electrical construction at Texas State Technical College.

“Because of the growth and all the businesses coming to the valley, I know that it's a promising future, and there's going to be electricians in demand in the future,” she said.

She said her cousin, a recent graduate from the technical college, just got a job at SpaceX.

“It was a big deal. I think she was shocked,” she said.

Another trades student, Adolfo Sandoval, has worked on a SpaceX project and is studying pipefitting at STX Metal Trades. He’s less enthusiastic about what SpaceX and other industrial growth mean for the region, especially the environment.

“Whether I like it or not, it's coming. It's up to the rich to decide. Us commoners, as much as we think that we might call some shots or protest against it, it's gonna happen,” Sandoval said.

He said it’s tough because he’s from here, and enjoys the beaches and animals.

“I grew up around the ranch style kind of life, and we're ruining habitats and stuff like that,” he said. “You can go against the grain, but you're still not gonna win, so might as well make some money out of it.”