First Texas, then Mars: Elon Musk created a separate city for SpaceX with his golden statue in the center

SpaceX officially has its own city, Starbase —, with a golden statue of Elon Musk, control over development and infrastructure.

Of course, the fact that Elon Musk is now a landowner of sorts is interesting, but his 3-meter-high golden bust in the middle of Starship City feels like a «highlight». This is against the background of the fact that another town — Snailbrook is being built near Austin, Texas.

Let’s go back to Starbase, the former Boca Chica. Elon Musk’s employees and their families voted to create a new municipality around the Texas launch site. There were 212 votes in favor and only 6 against. From now on, the place where SpaceX is testing Starship is legally a city, and it is run by SpaceX people.

Starbase, Texas

Is now a real city! pic.twitter.com/aW9S87Ycbd

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) May 4, 2025

All of the first Starbase officials are either current or former SpaceX employees. They ran unopposed and were elected on a single ballot. Bobby Peden was elected mayor with 216 votes. Peden has been with SpaceX for more than 12 years and serves as vice president of testing and launch in Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Elon Musk considers this step to be logical. Accordingly, the creation of the city transfers control over development, permits, and infrastructure from Cameron County directly to a new city council affiliated with SpaceX.

The city covers about 3.88 square meters and is home to about 500 people – the families of about 260 employees. But that’s only part of the team: more than 3,100 employees commute to the facility every day, many of them from neighboring Brownsville. Just on the way to Starbase is a 2.7-meter-high golden statue of Elon Musk. And so they drive to work — past the bust of the boss.

Becoming a city will help us continue building the best community possible for the men and women building the future of humanity’s place in space 🚀💫

— StarbaseTX (@StarbaseTX) May 4, 2025

This is not the first time SpaceX has tried to control the area fully. The company has previously bought out the homes of residents, saying that it is no longer «dangerous to live in the area». Some people agreed, but some stayed. Now, the territory has finally changed its status — the vote cemented the process that had been going on for years.

Source: Business Insider