A black barge with a white tent that recently floated into a South Texas port has SpaceX watchers excited about the prospect of Starship taking to the seas.
The Starbase-headquartered company has said it would use barges to float the rockets to Florida for launches from there until the Starship factory that it’s building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is complete.
The company has been in talks with port officials about a 50-year lease for an 83-acre site that would be used as a terminal for the 400-foot-long rockets. Those negotiations are ongoing.
SpaceX watchers caught images of the craft that looks like a giant covered wagon or maybe an ark. A tent with a curved top and a large access door on one end covers the barge.
Ship tracking services showed Marmac 31 arrived with its tug, Signet Lightning, on Wednesday.
SpaceX didn’t make its goal of launching Starship from Florida by the end of 2025, and it hasn’t announced its current timeline. But the Space Force has said it could occur later this year.
The company already has one launch tower and plans for two more across Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The rocket is currently grounded while SpaceX investigates what went wrong with the booster that malfunctioned during the prototype’s 12th flight May 22.
The booster crashed into the Gulf of Mexico after separating from the Starship upper stage, which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to ground the craft and require the investigation before allowing the craft to return to flight.