Everyday Astronaut
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2023–2024
37:21 · 470K views · Apr 4, 2023
Everyday Astronaut's guide to visiting Starbase, Texas to see Starship, covering what and where it is, which areas close during launches, where to watch from, where to fly into and stay, and things to do.
Recommended as the practical guide for anyone planning to attend a Starship launch in person.
4 comments from Hacker News
I've been to the last 3 Starship Launches, it's only a 10 hour drive each way! I hope I'm able to go to everyone and to eventually see a booster catch in person. Everyday Astronaut did a great writeup on seeing a launch in South Texas: this video My preferred way is to get a hotel room on the south end of the island (Everyday Astronaut recommends Margaritaville and I agree). I woke up an hour before launch and walked a mile down the beach with my kids to Isla Blanca park. Coming from off island you'll have to leave much earlier because the bridge onto the island becomes a parking lot. Hearing protection is probably wise, but it's a different kind of "loud". You feel it in your chest. Looking at the distances you are much closer to a much bigger rocket in South Padre than in Florida. The most important thing is to get down at least a day early and drive over to the rocket. Starbase and the OLM are on a public road so you just pull over and look straight up at the world's biggest rocket. Also plan on being there a couple extra days to account for delays. Second most important thing is to go to Hopper Haus (Starbase themed bar/restaurant in Port Isabel). People always say to me they'd like to join, when's the next launch? Driving down there is a leap of faith since there is only an announcement 4-5 days out and the launch license sometimes isn't issued until the day before. So you have to be ready and have a flexible schedule.
You should read the previous thread [LINK] lots of good stuff in there about visiting, especially this video this video
One of the everyday astronaut’s videos explains places to watch launches from and travel to/from those places. [0] this video
Everyday astronaut has a video discussing the layout of the area and which parts are closed during launch. this video