Boca Chica Village | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates: 25°59′29″N 97°11′1″W / 25.99139°N 97.18361°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Texas |
| County | Cameron |
| Kennedy Shores | 1967 |
| Kopernik Shores | 1975 |
| Elevation | 3 ft (0.9 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
• Total | 26 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Bridges | Veterans Bridge, B&M Bridge |
Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, formerly Kennedy Shores, is a small unincorporated community in Cameron County, Texas, United States, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. It was formed in the late 1960s, and is still extant as of 2021, although the village proper has changed greatly since 2018 as SpaceX came to purchase much of the land of the village. It lies 20 miles (32 km) east of the City of Brownsville on the Boca Chica peninsula, and forms part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas. It is situated on Texas State Highway 4, immediately south of the South Bay lagoon, and is located about 2 mi (3.2 km) northwest of the mouth of the Rio Grande. Although the name Kopernik Shores is no longer in popular use, it remains its official name per the U.S. Board on Geographic Names,[2] and is still occasionally used in official contexts.
In 2014, the village was chosen as the location for the construction of a control facility for the SpaceX South Texas launch site, while the launch site itself was slated to be built just 2 miles further east, adjacent to Boca Chica State Park on the Texas Gulf Coast.[3][4] Flight testing—and even more frequent ground testing—of prototype rocket vehicles and rocket engines began in 2019.
In March 2021, Elon Musk announced plans to incorporate a new city to be called Starbase, Texas in the area. Starbase is planned to include the existing Boca Chica Village, the SpaceX test site and launch site, and more of the surrounding Boca Chica area.[5][6]
- ^ "Kopernik Shores Populated Place Profile / Cameron County, Texas Data". TX HomeTownLocator. July 1, 2018. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ^ "Kopernik Shores". Geographic Names Information System. December 31, 2003. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
- ^ Perez-Treviño, Emma (February 19, 2014). "SpaceX continues local land purchases". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved February 19, 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Wasson, Erik (February 9, 2019). "Trump border wall could split SpaceX's Texas launchpad in two". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019 – via Los Angeles Times.
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