Cameron County issued a public notice to temporarily close State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday due to SpaceX flight activities.
A memorandum agreement between Cameron County and the Texas General Land Office permits the closure.
The notice was authorized by Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. for the purpose of protecting the public’s health and safety during flight activities, according to the Cameron County website.
SpaceX, in coordination with local law enforcement and the Texas Department of Transportation, authorized a safety zone perimeter and a SpaceX Roadway Closure Traffic Control Plan, including two temporary checkpoints to perform road closures on State Highway 4 and ensure that no individuals or vehicles are permitted to these areas during the designated times.
Individuals who provide proof of residence between the two checkpoints will be allowed to proceed through the soft checkpoint and access their homes during testing. Access beyond the hard checkpoint to the beach will not be permitted during temporary closures, according to a Cameron County Courthouse press release dated Nov. 19, 2019.
“Those wishing to visit a beach during the closures may do so on South Padre Island at County parks: Cameron County Beach Access No. 3, Cameron County Beach Access No. 4, Cameron County Beach Access No. 4 (West) or Cameron County Beach Access No. 5 (West),” according to the Cameron County website.
For updates on the road closure, Cameron County has established a hotline to call at (956)-548-9541. Public notices will also be available on the Cameron County website http://www.cameroncounty.us/space-x/ .
In other news, SpaceX has implemented a new dome for its Starship tank, added on the Boca Chica site, according to tweets from Elon Musk.
Another update for the program includes the landing of Falcon 9 first stage on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship. This is SpaceX’s 48th successful landing of an orbital rocket booster, according to SpaceX tweets.
This Sunday, SpaceX completed an In-Flight Abort Test on the Cape Canaveral launching site to show spacecraft Crew Dragon’s ability to safely separate from Falcon 9 in the event of an inflight emergency.
Crew Dragon is equipped with eight super draco thrusters built directly into the spacecraft to push away from Falcon 9 in the event of an emergency.
The purpose of the test was to take the next step in the multi-year efforts to fly astronauts again from U.S. soil, as part of NASA’s commercial crew program, a partnership with SpaceX.
Next for SpaceX is to launch astronauts to the International Space Station, as part of Demonstration Mission 2, according to a tweet from SpaceX.
