SpaceX
is a company name that many people today know about. SpaceX is trying to achieve something that
mankind has yearned for since the discovery of the heavenly bodies themselves.
Space colonization. Currently SpaceX is
trying to build a launch pad in Brownsville Texas so that later they can send
colonist to Mars. Texas officials waved several million dollars of incentives
in SpaceX's face in hopes of the launch pad being build in Brownsville.
As
soon as the Texas showed the money, many opinions began to pop up. Many Texans supported
the idea, especially the people of Brownsville. With more than 30 percent of
Brownsville's population in poverty, SpaceX's launch pad is just what Brownsville
needs to boom again. “It’s going
to take us to a whole different level in the state of Texas,” said Gilberto
Salinas, the executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council. Texas has always been aiming for space
superiority since the Kennedy administration. It would seem that Texas still
wants to keep that lead even without NASA.
On the other hand there are many
people who do not look forward to SpaceX's intrusion. Some Texas officials state that giving SpaceX
millions for a launch pad is the same as throwing the money away. “That’s kind of the rub for us, not just that
they put all their eggs in one basket, but that they spent so much money”
stated Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation. While Paul does have a point of Texas
pouring a lot of money into a single business. It can also be said that the
tourism alone can well be worth a couple of million.
