NASA'S SPACEX CHOICE DOES NOT INCLUDE BOCA CHICA

By Juan Montoya
Before City commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa dons her SpaceX jumpsuit to get on board a spacecraft to go to Mars from Boca Chica, we will repeat what we have said time and time again.
There are no plans for manned space flights to take off from the Boca Chica launch pad that will be used by SpaceX to launch private satellites into orbit.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named the winners of the competition at the Kennedy Space Center, next door to where the launches should occur in a few years.
NASA will pay the companies $6.8 billion — $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX. The manned SpaceX capsule would use the company's own Falcon 9 rocket. Cape Canaveral will be the sole launch site.
That should put an end to the fairy tale that was perpetrated during the Federal Aviation Administration's 2013 Environmental Impact Statement hearing  held at the ITEC that the SpaceX site will see astronauts taking off to interplanetary travel.
Remember Bob Lancaster, President of the Texas Space Alliance during the cheerleading session?
"It is exciting to think that you will be able to see the launch of a manned space mission to Mars," Lancaster said to wild applause.
But this did not stop the Brownsville Herald and the Brownsville Economic Development Council's Gilbert Salinas from repeating this impossibility as an opportunity for Brownsville to send off astronauts from Boca Chica.
"Musk," the Herald stated in an editorial, "whose dreams of space flight were inspired by the 'Star Wars' films, is not content to merely shoot satellites into space and supply space stations. His goal, according to the company, is to 'revolutionize space transportation and ultimately make it possible for people to live on other planets.'”
"Now that the shuttle program is history and the way has been cleared for private space transport — with SpaceX leading the way — NASA has more time to spend on exploring Mars and beyond.
“What’s funny is that Elon Musk wants to do the same thing,” Salinas said. “It’s just a matter of who you think is going to get there first. Imagine, if we could do that from here.”
In fact, just today, Pct. 1 Commissioner Sofie Benavides – a strong SpaceX suporter and in whose jurisdiction the Boca Chica launch site is located – said she was told at a meeting this morning that "for the next several years NASA will require any manned space launches to the International Space Station to be launched from governmental space launch facilities and thnat Boca Chica would handle only private payloads."
Believe it or not, those of us here at El Rrun-Rrun are space exploration enthusiasts. But the fact is that those NASA millions for manned space travel are not coming to Boca Chica Beach. It's better to foster dreams of space launches from here with our feet firmly planted on real ground.