Have you ever wanted to work for SpaceX but weren’t sure if you have the right credentials? You may be in luck. SpaceX is currently seeking a resort development manager to assist with developing what it describes as a “21st century spaceport” in Boca Chica, Texas. According to the job listing on Greenhouse, a successful candidate will have experience with “high end brand luxury development.” The job will be based in Brownsville, Texas.
Boca Chica is already the base of operations for testing of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which recently completed a “hop” test in which it reached a 150-meter altitude. When Starship becomes operational, it will be capable of launching payloads to the Moon and Mars.
The job listing seems to indicate that SpaceX intends to add more amenities to its spaceport, bringing it more in line with competitors for the private “space tourism” industry like Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic also has a fledgling spaceport in New Mexico, which it refers to as Spaceport America, and has emphasized the amenities that it has planned for its spaceport as much as its planned spaceflights.
Unlike Virgin Galactic’s brief suborbital flights, SpaceX has plans to send paying customers into orbit, to the Moon, and eventually on to Mars. It has already completed a successful flight test of its Crew Dragon, which included sending two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and back. A second test flight is planned for as early as October. SpaceX plans to fly the first operational crewed flights to and from the International Space Station as early as the first quarter of 2021. Crewed lunar flights could begin as early as 2023, with paying customers such as Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa expressing interest.
SpaceX has not been very forthcoming about what the planned “resort” will look like beyond an emphasis on servicing and flying Starship for trips around the moon. The job posting seems to imply that the plans include a high-end hotel for the elite clients that are planning a flight into space.
The greater focus is on the floating rocket launch bases in the ocean that SpaceX has planned for servicing of spaceflights ranging from interplanetary travel to suborbital flights from point to point on Earth. Imagine being able to fly from Texas to Tokyo in 90 minutes or less, with a taste of weightlessness during the flight. Perhaps future services for spaceports like SpaceX’s and Virgin Galactic will include business class flights to lunar bases and space stations similar to NASA’s planned Lunar Gateway.
Interested in applying for this job but aren’t a rocket scientist? No big deal. It does require a bachelor’s degree, but doesn’t seem to require that it be in aerospace engineering. Just be sure to brush off your CV so you can impress Elon Musk, who is notorious for being finicky about his new hires.
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