---
title: "What in Tarnation Is This “SpaceX Village” by the Starship Launch Site"
description: "The puzzling, since-removed listing advertised volleyball tournaments, rock climbing, kayaking, and a \"spaceport lounge (restaurant and bar).\""
date: "2020-02-20"
modified: "2020-02-20"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-village-starship-launch-site"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "the digest"
---

# What in Tarnation Is This “SpaceX Village” by the Starship Launch Site

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/spacex-village-starship-launch-site.jpg>)
*SpaceX/Victor Tangermann \<em\>Image: SpaceX / Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## SpaceX Village

*Business Insider* [spotted an, uh, *intriguing* job listing](<https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-planning-private-village-south-texas-starship-boca-chica-beach-2020-2>) on SpaceX's careers: a project coordinator for a "SpaceX Village" situated next to the company's Boca Chica launch site for its colossal, in-development Starship rocket.

The puzzling, since-removed listing advertised amenities including volleyball tournaments, rock climbing, kayaking, and a "spaceport lounge (restaurant and bar)."

## Theme Park

Gotta ask: *what* *are you doing Elon*? It's not clear, per *BI*, whether the purpose of the village is to house SpaceX employees in posh environs or to create a tourist attraction as a parallel revenue stream for the launch site.

Further complicating things, *BI* also reports that SpaceX is attempting to snap up land for the village from an existing retirement community on the site — a process that's become acrimonious.

## Land Grab

SpaceX has already bought out about half the residents, though others reportedly don't plan to move and have secured a law firm to help fight SpaceX's incursions.

One resident told *BI* that she found the job listing "shocking" and "saddening," and described a community meeting at which Musk personally tried to convince residents to leave the area.

"Elon was three feet from me, and he looked right down at me and he said, 'You won't want to live here, it'll be inhospitable,'" she told *BI*.

## Theme Park

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk's rocket company to build a 'SpaceX Village in Boca Chica](<https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-planning-private-village-south-texas-starship-boca-chica-beach-2020-2>) \[*Business Insider*\]

**More on Elon Musk:** [Elon Musk Disses Bill Gates](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musks-disses-bill-gates-seemingly-buying-porsche>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)