SpaceX's giant Starship vehicle towers above turquoise waters in gorgeous photo

By Mike Wall
published

The image shows off the natural beauty surrounding SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas.

a big silver rocket stands beneath a cloud-studded blue sky, with a turquoise bay in the foreground.
SpaceX's fully stacked Starship vehicle stands on the orbital launch mount at the Starbase site in South Texas in this photo, which the company posted on X on Sept. 30, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)

It's a rare thing when SpaceX's fully stacked Starship vehicle takes a back seat in a photo.

But it may just have happened, thanks to the natural beauty surrounding Starbase, SpaceX's seaside facility in South Texas. The company captured that beauty in a recent image of Starship on the pad, showing the huge rocket standing between the turquoise waters of a shallow bay, with sandy wetlands and the darker-blue Gulf of Mexico in the background.

"Starship stacked at Starbase ahead of flight, team continues to work with the FAA on a launch license," SpaceX wrote in a Sept. 30 post on X (formerly Twitter), which featured the photo. The FAA is the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Related: Relive SpaceX's explosive 1st Starship test in incredible launch photos

As that post notes, SpaceX is gearing up to launch Starship, for the second time ever. The first mission, which lifted off this past April, aimed to send the vehicle's upper stage partway around Earth, with a splashdown targeted for the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

That didn't happen, however. Starship suffered a number of problems shortly after launch, including the failure of its two stages to separate, and SpaceX detonated the vehicle intentionally high above the Gulf of Mexico. 

The FAA wrapped up its investigation of the April mishap last month but has not yet awarded a license for the second launch, whose aims will be similar to those of the first. SpaceX also needs to secure environmental approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to Reuters.

SpaceX will likely aim to fly soon after those boxes are checked. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk has said that Starship is ready to go from a technical standpoint.

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Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, boasting nearly twice the thrust at liftoff as NASA's Space Launch System, the brawniest launcher currently in operation.

The SpaceX vehicle is also designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, the breakthrough needed to make Mars colonization and other ambitious exploration feats economically feasible, according to Musk. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Qbot
    What beautiful waters about to be vaporized by the massive starship launch! You can almost see the thousands of fish and forest animals that will be killed by the launch. How gorgeous! Oh and goodbye beautiful clean air too.
    Reply
  • sappo
    Qbot said:
    What beautiful waters about to be vaporized by the massive starship launch! You can almost see the thousands of fish and forest animals that will be killed by the launch. How gorgeous! Oh and goodbye beautiful clean air too.
    On the bright side, given their permit failures and shortcuts, they are extremely unlikely to get that launch permit this year. Or possibly even this decade, if all the construction permitting stuff they skipped doing 6 (10) years ago with ACoE turns out to be necessary and they have to go through that whole 5 year permitting process from scratch, to start dredging a wetland to build water treatment pools and and real flame diverter and etc.
    Reply
  • Lct/SPI
    Yes it's indeed gorgeous, but if you live down here, as I do on South Padre Island --(a hop, skip and a jump to SpaceX as the crow flies)-- you would know that the huge turquoise body if water in the foreground is the GULF of MEXICO, not the bay. Just sayin'!!
    The rocket is perhaps 200 yards from the Gulf shore, otherwise known as Boca Chica Beach. Therein, in part, lies the root of the conflict over SpaceX being here at all. It blocks beach access during its many activities. In Texas, citizens have the legal right to access the beach, courtesy of the state Open Beaches Act. In other words, no one can cordon off the shoreline and say "It's Mine!!" Or own it in any fashion.
    In any case, just a clarification for those who have never been here.
    Thank You.
    Reply
  • Lct/SPI
    Lct/SPI said:
    Yes it's indeed gorgeous, but if you live down here, as I do on South Padre Island --(a hop, skip and a jump to SpaceX as the crow flies)-- you would know that the huge turquoise body if water in the foreground is the GULF of MEXICO, not the bay. Just sayin'!!
    The rocket is perhaps 200 yards from the Gulf shore, otherwise known as Boca Chica Beach. Therein, in part, lies the root of the conflict over SpaceX being here at all. It blocks beach access during its many activities. In Texas, citizens have the legal right to access the beach, courtesy of the state Open Beaches Act. In other words, no one can cordon off the shoreline and say "It's Mine!!" Or own it in any fashion.
    In any case, just a clarification for those who have never been here.
    Thank You.
    In addition, parts of the Lower RGV and Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuges, surrounds the SpaceX area, as well as the Bahia Grande, where waterways were restored under Texas Highway 48 to allow the Laguna Madre Bay to revert to its natural flow during high and low tides. Not much in the way of forest, but cacti, various palms and scrub vegetation are around the area. It looks like a barren coastal plain, but over 500 species of birds migrate through here using the Central and Mississippi flyways. Other creatures also exist in the area, including the critically endangered Ocelet, a small spotted cat of which maybe less than 50 remain on the U.S. side of the Mexican border.
    Reply
  • Kehk in a MiG
    sappo said:
    On the bright side, given their permit failures and shortcuts, they are extremely unlikely to get that launch permit this year. Or possibly even this decade, if all the construction permitting stuff they skipped doing 6 (10) years ago with ACoE turns out to be necessary and they have to go through that whole 5 year permitting process from scratch, to start dredging a wetland to build water treatment pools and and real flame diverter and etc.
    I've said it before: is America's version of the N1 program.
    Reply
  • Unclear Engineer
    Kehk in a MiG said:
    I've said it before: is America's version of the N1 program.
    Far from it.

    While similar in size, it is not in other aspects, including funding and political aspects.

    Russia lost the will to make it succeed and just gave up. Musk will not lose the will.
    Reply
  • Kehk in a MiG
    Unclear Engineer said:
    Musk will not lose the will.
    That's what I'm afraid of.
    Reply
  • billslugg
    Let's pray Musk survives a long while. He has made unprecendented impact upon automotive market and space market. He is an unusual combination of genius, giga$$, no leash.
    When I was in industry, our CEO told us some day the company would have one employee, the CEO, and everything else would be contracted out. One person running the whole thing, instant ability to cut off arms.
    Reply
  • Kehk in a MiG
    billslugg said:
    Let's pray Musk survives a long while.
    He will have to stop making enemies, especially entire states.
    Reply
  • billslugg
    Kehk in a MiG said:
    He will have to stop making enemies, especially entire states.
    Good observation. When I was in ROTC in college, they taught us it was important not to have any enemies in your platoon. Learn how to get along with everyone they taught us. They said: "When you are leading your platoon up that hill, you don't want even one guy shooting at you."
    Reply