Move over Florida and California. Most of us recognize that most space launches by NASA are from Cape Canaveral Florida but some are from Vandenberg Airforce base in California. Space X, the first commercial enterprise to deliver supplies and dock at the International Space station up there somewhere, is going to build a launch site in Texas.
It will be near Brownsville and Boca Chica Beach. This is some 152 miles a little Southwest of Matagorda Island right here in Calhoun County. Some of you will remember that was where the first commercial space flight was launched. It was September 9 1982. The launch was from the southern end of the Island. In those days Toddie Lee Wynne lived, part time, on the Island. He was chairman of American Liberty Oil Company and a major investor in Space services Inc. who made the launch.
They were a Houston company and their president was Deke Slayton who was a retired Astronaut. Aries was the rocket used. It was also known as Conestoga. The Aries was made from excess second stages of the minuteman ICBMs. One of the good things about commercial enterprises is they do things economically.
Space Services had tried to make a launch in 1981 with a kerosene-oxygen rocket called Percheron but it blew up on the launch pad. They ran out of money after the 1982 launch. It might be because Toddie Lee had died. Nowadays the company does space related business by purchasing space from other launchers
However, there are similarities to their plans and what Space X is doing.. Ironically their launch vehicle Falcon uses a version of the Oxygen-Kerosene propellant. They have worked the bugs out because they have had many successful launches. Another of their ideas is to reuse the rocket frames after the fuel is burnt up. There was a successful recovery of one in April of this year.
The capsule above the propellant is called Dragon. Since NASA has given up on the Space Shuttle and doesn’t have any capable replacements yet. They use Russia and Space X to deliver supplies to the international space station. It’s a shame that we have to count on Russia they are so busy messing with Eastern Europe that they may not be totally interested. Space X isn’t quite ready to send people up and back. They launch now from the Cape with supplies and are working on people. This New facility down at Boca Chica Beach and their Dragon development plans are about two or three years away. It is nice to know that Texas is still the commercial space champ.
There is one other Ironical thing about Matagorda Island and Boca Chica. The guy who heads Space X is Elon Musk. You may know him as the fellow who is behind the Tesla electric car. Poor old Toddie Lee is probably glad that he is working on space but spinning in his grave about electric cars. The Kerosene in the rocket fuel doesn’t cut it.