[00F_]

i was at south padre island for the first starship landing. even though it blew up a minute or two after it landed, i consider it the first landing. i had seen pretty much every major launch from spacex on their livestreams but i was still taken aback at seeing starship. its as odd as watching a skyscraper slowly levitate upward into the sky. and to see it standing after the dust settled was unreal. and after it was over people shuffled away and even i was halfway to my car when we heard the explosion. i thought it was a sonic boom or something and only later realized it had blown up because by that time the landing pad was well out of sight. i got a crazy sunburn.

im not sure if im even going to attempt to see the next launch in person because i think it will be absolutely thronged. finding a hotel room, parking, even a good spot in the grass come launch time. its going to be a fucking mad house. if some people here want to split a hotel room then i might consider it. hotels can really add up because they can scrub or cancel or whatever and youre just stuck there. i think there were a couple scrubs on my last go too. my advice to anyone who goes: bring sunscreen and a really good pair of binoculars and a tripod for the binoculars.

[00F_]

ive made a reservation with another user. show up at the lighthouse inn on south padre island the night of the 16th for a raging party and to save money on a room

[darknavi]

Now this is what the internet is all about.

[MichaelZuo]

I'm down to share a room, my email is in my profile.

[bryanlarsen]

My email's in my profile, I'm trying to figure out how to get down there. Looks like the flight and renting a car is going to cost more than the hotel room...

[eco]

Tim Dodd just released an excellent guide on how to visit Starbase.

https://youtu.be/aWvHrih-Juk

[MichaelZuo]

Thanks for the link.

[deepsun]

Thank you, such a nice inspirational and personal writeup! Keep it up!

[HopenHeyHi]

Drive don't fly. Rent van or large jeep. Sleep in it.

[leobg]

Do it in style. Rent a Tesla. Sleep in it.

I’ve done tours like that through Europe with the S, the 3 and the X. Can sleep comfortably in all of them as one person. In the X, it even worked with my wife and kid (plus baggage for a one week tour).

Can’t speak about the charging situation though down there. If you have to wait in line at chargers while depending on running the A/C all day it might be less fun.

[downvotetruth]

Only under 400 mi after that it is cheaper to fly & rent. Current gas prices it's probably 350.

[HopenHeyHi]

Inflatable mattresses are available at Walmart for like $10 :)

[rnk]

older model s came with free lifetime supercharging. I have mine. I'm tempted to go. S Padre Island isn't going to let you sleep on it in your car, I would guess. Are there campgrounds nearby? Only 2 70kwh superchargers on the island. I will watch that video.

[00F_]

im sharing a room with another HN user. 3 ways would be even cheaper.

[rnk]

so what did you do after the 3 day delay? I ended up not going all the way there from the west coast. I need a one week delay, then I could torture myself with considering it.

[HopenHeyHi]

Get/make some magnetic window covers. I couldn't find any when I drove cross country spontaneously so I just got a bunch of the cheapest black pillow cases and some binder clips.

Park literally anywhere not obvious, it is only one night. I am not sure how charged up you need to be to maintain a comfortable temperature. 5%? Just go and problem solve on the road. You'll be fine.

[chasd00]

I wonder if you could head over to Matamoros and give a fisherman $50 to take you out on the water. The launch tower is maybe 500yds from the beach.

[philwelch]

Probably a bad idea. Rocket launches tend to have exclusion zones for sea traffic and they will scrub the launch if some boat wanders into the area, and speaking as someone who likes to watch rocket launches on stream, I’m confident in saying that lots of people will be mad at you for doing this.

Edit: Oh, you said Matamoros, which is in Mexico and presumably out of the FAA's jurisdiction. Everyday Astronaut seems to think Matamoros is one of the more dangerous parts of Mexico[1] but I'm not one to talk anyone out of adventure travel. Just be wise to what you're getting yourself into.[2]

[1] https://everydayastronaut.com/how-to-visit-starbase [2] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mexican-cartel-says-sorry-a...

[myself248]

"Wayward boat" is the term for when someone does this and they're forced to scrub the launch as a result. Please don't.

[stetrain]

There is a marine exclusion zone:

https://twitter.com/VisitBocaChica/status/164693832218955776...

[rektide]

Looks like you can get like half a mile north or south (based off some crude eyeballing) & be out of the easterly-directed exclusion zone. I have no clue how that compares to where people can be on land to watch, how far up rt 4 people are allowed. It seems like it might be a good option.

Also the launch should pivot & head out more your-a-way too, which could be cool.

[stetrain]

https://twitter.com/johnkrausphotos/status/16470015572111605...

The green areas are the closest you can get by boat. Which is basically just as close as viewing from South Padre Island. You might have a slightly less obstructed or crowded view from a boat versus parking and standing with everyone else on South Padre.

[rektide]

I'm surprised how greatly this differs from the marine exclusion zone that Boca Chica posted.

[AdamJacobMuller]

This reads a lot more optional than a NOTAM.

I'm not saying it's a good idea, but, i think if you're sufficiently motivated you can still go inside the exclusion zone.

[stetrain]

Boats in the exclusion zone can and have caused launches to scrub. I can't speak as to whether you will face legal consequences, but there may not be a launch to watch if you violate the safety perimeter.

[throwawayapples]

Matamoros is INSANELY dangerous. It is impossible to overstate that.

[rurban]

But the best (only) surf in Texas

[throwawayapples]

Matamoros is.. not in Texas?

The Texas side of the border is way safer than Matamoros.

[s1artibartfast]

I had a similar thought about watching it crash down into the Pacific off of Hawaii. If it makes it that far, they plan to sink it in a naval graveyard about 50 miles north of the island. Watching it attempt to soft landing and then sink below the waves would be remarkable

[eco]

This second stage is going to slam into the water at terminal velocity (per FAA filing). No mock landing flip and burn. The two after will break up on re-entry (no "wings", people suspect they are for payload or propellant transfer tests).

The booster, however, will do a mock landing over the water a ways out from the launch facilities (40 miles I think it was).

[martyvis]

I imagine because of ITAR etc they particularly want to have very little to be able to recovered by foreign parties.

[mlindner]

That area is restricted during launch. If you head out there you'd end up canceling/delaying the launch. https://twitter.com/johnkrausphotos/status/16470015572111605...