Repeating history, just with a different vehicle
Florida’s Space Coast could soon see a lot more launch activity if SpaceX can launch its new spacecraft, Starship, from the Kennedy Space Center. The plan is to launch the massive vehicle dozens of times each year, in part to support NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon. However, those additional launches would come at a cost that some residents say is too high–the temporary closure of one of Titusville's historic beaches.
Dozens of people filed into a conference room at the Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 26 at the first of four in-person meetings hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The majority of attendees were frustrated that the FAA could potentially shut down Playalinda Beach for up to 60 days a year to accommodate the launches. It's part of the administration’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement which measures the potential environmental impacts that would come with launching Starship out of Florida’s space coast.
The meeting gave Floridians a chance to hear about and weigh in on those potential impacts and mitigations.
Barbara Evans has lived in Titusville for over 60 years. She doesn’t want to see the beach she enjoys with her family shut down for SpaceX, even if it is only partially closed.
“There are no cars, there's no buildings, there's no concession stand, there's no trash, there's not a lot of people and you don't have a lot of glaring radios,” Evans said. “When you go to the beach, it's just heaven. It's just perfect. It's been Titusville's historic beach forever, so I just don't think they should take it away.”
Evans has been here before. Today, she’s wearing a vintage T-Shirt that says “I helped save Playalinda Beach,” and hands out bumper stickers that read “Save Playalinda Beach.”
Both the shirt and stickers are from the 80’s, from a fight she and her late husband Hank Evans were a part of to keep Playalinda beach open during the Space Shuttle Program.The solution back then was to create a new access road, allowing both launches and beach recreation to happen simultaneously
Now over forty years later, Evans said she’s continuing that fight, for her community and for her family.
“When this came up, I thought this is the day we always dreaded,” Evans said. “My husband's gone now. I lost him two years ago, and I thought l I just have to pick up his mantle. I have to do this in honor of him and all his work that he did for the community, and that's why I'm here now doing this.”
Evans said she loves being a resident on the Space Coast – he routinely hosts launch parties, watching rockets take off right from her back porch. Nevertheless, she also loves the beach and said a solution must be found.
“NASA agreed to build us a road, they set a precedent, and they built us a road. It's only fair they do it again, " Evans said. “Playalinda is our life.”
Bringing Starship to the Space Coast
SpaceX currently launches Starship atop its 33-engined Super Heavy booster from Boca Chica, Texas, but the Kennedy Space center offers more variety in launch paths because it's closer to an ocean.
Don Platt, Florida Tech’s Director of Spaceport Education and an associate professor of space systems, said the vehicle has to take a longer route in Texas just to get into orbit.
“From the east coast of Florida here we have a wide open Atlantic Ocean,” Platt said. “That allows us a wide selection of trajectories to get into space…which can be very important for a variety of different missions that SpaceX may have an interest in doing in the future with Starship.”
SpaceX is working with NASA to use Starship to bring the agency’s astronauts to the surface of the moon. It also plans to use the vehicle to launch the company’s Starlink satellites, which blanket the globe with internet access from space. SpaceX is also counting on Starship to eventually take humans to Mars.
In addition to a more direct flight path, Platt said its safer launching from Florida because it's away from people, whereas in Boca Chica, the population is closer to the launch site.
The development of Starship is ambitious – it’s the most powerful rocket ever built, and it has taken ten testflights from Texas for SpaceX to launch what it considered a successful mission. Many of those previous launches ended with Starship exploding and debris raining down over the ocean. Because of this, Platt said closing the beaches is necessary for the general public’s safety.
“Say an explosion happens, either on the pad or soon after it lifts off from the launch pad, we want to make sure there's no one in harm's way, or possibly could be in harm's way for such a powerful rocket that, again, has so far never launched here from Florida,” Platt said.
SpaceX and the FAA did not respond to a request for comment on the draft impact statement.
Aside from closing the beach, Platt explained that there are other public concerns, including things like noise and houses shaking.
“I live in North Melbourne, and my house shakes sometimes when some of these Falcon 9 launches take place, and that's a much smaller rocket than the Starship will be,” Platt said. “There is a definite possibility that noise will be a huge factor, even if it's a nuisance factor, that could be a problem.…some may be more noisy than others, and especially over populated areas, that could be a concern here.”
There’s also other concerns, said Platt, including debris potentially polluting or disrupting the environment. Plus, because the FAA would have to close the airspace and surrounding waters, air and water activities would be suspended during Starship launches.
Specifically, Platt said there are other locals who rely on the waters around Playalinda for their livelihood.
“We know how important it is to be out there when it's the fishing season and to collect as much fish as possible during the time period when you're able to do so,” Platt said. “So, if rocket launches are closing off important fishing grounds, that's another group of people that could be impacted by a large increase in the number of rocket launches.”
Could Starship boost the Space Coast’s economy?
Despite the environmental concerns and hesitations from locals, Platt said launching Starship from Florida will increase SpaceX’s presence in staffing and activity, making the rocket’s presence an “overall a win for people living here on the Space Coast, one way or the other.”
Roz Foster, a Brevard County Historian and President of the North Brevard Heritage Foundation, Inc., is looking forward to potentially seeing the giant Starship vehicle launch from Florida.
The North Brevard Heritage Foundation is one of the consulting parties on the study. Foster is analyzing how some of the historic buildings in the area will fare during the t vibrations, or shaking, from Starship’s launches.
That includes the Pritchard House, a historic building from 1891 that the North Brevard Heritage Foundation oversees. Foster said the shaking won’t affect older buildings,like the Pritchard House, and residents shouldn't worry about their own homes.
“It has withstood all of the hurricanes and everything the houses were built to withstand, vibration and wind,” Foster said. “They're very flexible, and the materials that they're made out of are very flexible. They breathe”
Though she understands people’s concerns about how Starship could impact their livelihood or homes, Foster said she is hopeful residents will look at the steps the FAA and SpaceX are taking to ensure the safety of the public.
“I think once they understand what is going on in the background and the studies that regard the people involved in it, they can feel more at ease that something is being done to take a look at all of these variables,” Foster said. “There are a lot of variables that are concerned here. After all, there has never been measurements of this caliber before. This is the new age.”
If Starship does launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Foster said she is looking forward to seeing it.
“I'm excited. I wish I was younger so I could enjoy the future,” Foster said.” “The college kids and the younger children of today, they have such a fantastic future to look forward to with space exploration.”
Public comment for the draft closes on September 22. It’s expected the FAA will clear Starship for launch.
