Shortly after nine in the evening, on the terrace of the Space Bar, about a hundred people are getting ready to witness the pyrotechnic show of a single rocket. To serve drinks, Karl is wearing a shirt with astronomical motifs, paired with beers named Space Coast, Lucky Launch, or Starbase, and stellar cocktails like Neptune's nectar and Andromeda's lemonade.
On the horizon of Cape Canaveral, a light flashes rapidly between four poles. From there, a SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch, according to the activity program of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Titusville, carrying a Spanish payload, the SpainSat NG II military satellite. A Japanese tourist mentions he traveled to Florida just to witness the show. However, upon arriving at the hotel reception, a launch alert screen informed him that in two days he could see another one, a Starlink satellite mission scheduled for 10:27 in the morning. And another one, five days later, at 9:14. "They are launching like twice a week," Karl says. If one is lucky, they might even see a couple of launches in a day, or a part of the Falcon landing, although, "only one out of every ten is visible."
The Space Coast is trending. Over 110 kilometers of beaches overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, facing the Indian and Banana rivers, dotted with swamps and mangroves where alligators, manatees, and dolphins mingle with space rockets. It spans Brevard, Daytona Beach, and Palm Bay counties, who, on a whim, adopted the 321 area code from a countdown. The Space Coast is home to the Kennedy Space Center or, as the road signs say, 'Where Space begins'.
The Coast saw its first launch in the 60s, with NASA's Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, culminating in the moon landing. A second one in the 80s, with the space shuttles, until the Challenger and Columbia accidents, where 14 astronauts lost their lives. And now, a third one, led by Elon Musk and SpaceX, who have turned rocket launches and landings into a tourist attraction. Their VIP guests and clients receive a commemorative gift bag with a launch bracelet, similar to those handed out at many concerts, which light up during the show, saying: "Lights, camera, lift off."
But they are not alone. Jeff Bezos is also expanding his presence in Cape Canaveral. Blue Origin operates Launch Complex 36, where they are preparing for the second launch of their New Glenn super rocket. The facility includes a huge integration building and processing areas for both rockets and payloads. And other companies like Relativity or Rocket Lab have emerged, taking advantage of the current momentum in the sector.
In 2024, three new hotels with 374 rooms opened on the Space Coast. This 2025, seven more, adding another 1,000. Three more are planned for next year, nine for 2027, and so far, another five for 2028. The over three million overnight stays recorded last year will soon be surpassed. In Port Canaveral, cruise tourism surged by 12% with 7.6 million passengers. And in case there were any doubts about the reasons for this boom, Peter Cranis, CEO of the Space Coast Tourism Office, confirms it: "41% of tourists claim to visit the area hoping to see a launch."
Most are childless couples, but there are also Millennial and X generation families, who travel the 45 minutes separating them from Disneyland to visit the Kennedy Space Center, the amusement park of the old and gigantic glories of 20th-century space programs, like the Apollo 8 capsule or the space shuttle Atlantis. But the 21st century seems to belong to Elon Musk, who has turned rocket launches into the star attraction of this theme park installed, for added appeal, in a restricted area of NASA and the US Space Forces.
At 9:29, the tourists at the Space Bar saw a light awaken on the horizon, as if a fire had started. Soon after, the Falcon's nine Merlin engines began to rise like a shooting star wanting to return to the sky. Ten seconds into the countdown, a second countdown of another 10 seconds for night launches could be added, which is the time it takes for Cape Canaveral to turn back into daylight. The roar of the engines, 15 times more powerful than a commercial airplane, takes a bit longer to reach the Marriott terrace. An engine rumble, muffled, would sound like a suitcase rolling on cobblestones, accompanied by a metallic buzz, like a circular saw. And then, for just fifteen seconds, the miracle of seeing a 30-story building fly with the ground on fire becomes visible. Barely two minutes later, the show ends with a tiny, smoky orange star, bid farewell from the terrace with a resounding applause.
At the Courtyard by Marriott Titusville, everything is designed for space enthusiasts: rooms decorated with astronomical images, windows overlooking launch pads, binoculars to enjoy launches, and even an astronaut-shaped lamp projector for sleeping surrounded by stars. In the lobby, you can buy t-shirts with slogans like "I need my space," astronaut plush toys, and freeze-dried astronaut ice cream. Here, breakfast is enjoyed in seats unfolded to look at the sky, accompanied by a three-meter rocket, an astronaut doll, telescopes, and screens projecting space jokes: "Why did the Earth make fun of the Moon? Because it has no life."
"Many of our guests choose us as part of their visit to the Space Center. The bar has become a very popular spot to enjoy launches because we are the closest to the rocket launch pads," says their director, Wayne Soard.
Nevertheless, Cocoa Beach remains the favorite destination for space tourists, who also want to enjoy the area's main attraction, the beach. "A few years ago, Cocoa Beach was a cheap place and a retirement spot. The increase in launches has revitalized it. Cape Canaveral is experiencing another golden age," points out engineer and former SpaceX employee, Pablo Gallego Sanmiguel, currently the senior vice president of sales and clients at the Spanish company PLD Space. What was once a wetland shared by thousands of alligators and 49 residents in the 1950s saw in February 1962 people flocking to the beach to witness John Glenn become NASA's first astronaut to orbit the Earth and, upon landing, a Cocoa Beach resident.
Today, more astronauts, aeronautical engineers, space industry workers, and technological and defense contractors reside there, who might put a satellite into orbit or go surfing at the foot of the Cocoa Pier, a popular pier with bars, shops, and restaurants. "In 1998, when Pedro Duque flew to space for the first time, there were no hotels near the launch pads," recalls engineer Miguel Belló, president of the British launcher company Orbex and former acting director of the Spanish Space Agency, who is not surprised by the area's tourism boom.
Belló remembers that in Spain, two decades ago, a project called Capricornio was considered, which planned to build a launch base on the island of El Hierro: "The Government of the Canary Islands opposed it because they thought it would harm tourism, although the plan was to have one launch per month, lasting 20 minutes, with established procedures to ensure safety. In Spain, we have that vision, but I, having seen several, believe that a launch is a whole experience. And if you put a hotel next to a launch base, it fills up because it is an activity with a huge appeal." He also warns that, "considering all the satellite constellations being designed worldwide, by 2030, almost 400 launches will be needed annually", and there will be a need for sites from where to launch them and operators.
But in Cape Canaveral, not all its neighbors are happy with the phenomenon, especially since Elon Musk announced his intention to bring the Starship from Texas, which means having a new neighbor of 120 meters in height and 33 engines, or in other words, the spectacle of seeing a hundred launches per year, according to SpaceX's most ambitious plans, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built by man. An arrival that would mean witnessing, or enduring on average, a launch every other day.
Bill Fisk grew up watching Apollo launches with his father and grandfather. He presides over the Audubon Society of the Space Coast to observe birds, and he does not see the Starship in a positive light: "SpaceX plans to use 1.5 million liters of water per launch and 250,000 per landing to cool their equipment. This, combined with other uses, raises SpaceX's total water consumption to 190 million liters per year. Meanwhile, Brevard County is running out of drinking water for residents and businesses."
Space Debris in the Sea
The Space Coast is filled with signs for neighborhood meetings. There, the environmental impact statement drafted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is shared on WhatsApp, stating things like the likelihood of people exposed to Starship noise waking up indoors during nighttime operations is 82%. Neighbors complain mainly about cracks in homes near the platforms. And fishermen complain that the falling space debris into the sea is damaging their gear.
Robyn Memphis created a petition on Change.org to prevent the planned closure of Playalinda for at least 60 days a year due to Starship operations. It has 4,500 signatures. Barbara Evans, who lives in Laguna del Río Indio, in front of the space center, is used to her house vibrating during launches, but the frequency of Starship concerns her. She is now collecting signatures to prevent the closure of that beach, a battle that she and her late husband fought in the 80s. "We support the space industry, it generates many jobs and a lot of knowledge for the world; we just need to coexist. It doesn't have to be one thing or the other," she said on the local TV channel Spectrum News 13.
Environmental groups, like the Surfrider Foundation, have expressed concern about the environmental impact. In the area, there are at least 15 threatened or endangered species, such as five species of turtles, two snakes, the Caribbean manatee, the North Atlantic right whale, the bald eagle, the southern beach mouse, the American stork, or the Arctic peregrine falcon. Surfrider is already reporting stress in these species due to the noise, vibrations, and light flashes generated by launches.
In 1963, when NASA was preparing its program to go to the Moon, it signed an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to manage all the lands of the Kennedy Space Center not used for space operations. These lands, now known as the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, are home to over 1,500 animal and plant species. For NASA, it is an example of how nature and technology can peacefully coexist. Still, it is not uncommon to see a wild boar, an armadillo, a coyote, a raccoon, a white-tailed deer, or a red lynx sneaking onto the launch pads.
How much do the intense noise, light pollution, and chemicals used in the space industry affect them? There are few studies that have addressed this issue, but one of the most recent - published last year in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment - argues that the increasing number of rocket launches year after year threatens global biodiversity conservation.
According to this team, mostly composed of Chinese and Spanish researchers, over 62% of operational launch sites worldwide are located within or near protected areas, affecting ecosystems due to emissions, acoustic oscillations, and land or water use. Animal and plant species can also be harmed by fuel spills or chemical leaks. Analyses conducted near NASA's launch sites in Florida showed elevated levels of toxic elements in local fauna, such as in the alligators' livers. The use of perchlorate, a common ingredient in rocket fuels, has been linked to thyroid disruptions in amphibians and other wildlife species in North America, inhibiting iodine absorption and affecting their growth and development.
Another study conducted in the UK in 2021 warned of the dangers posed by space debris to marine life: smaller fragments can cause injuries and deaths through ingestion, while larger pieces alter seabed ecosystems by providing unnatural substrates for invertebrates.
The writer and columnist from St. Petersburg, Craig Pittman, one of the most recognized voices of the Space Coast, wrote last week in the Florida Phoenix: "Residents used to be willing to give the space program the benefit of the doubt because they felt they were fulfilling their patriotic duty. But not anymore. SpaceX is not NASA. It is simply a profit-driven company that adds more money to Musk's already bulging pockets. I think we should tell SpaceX that the only way to allow them to do whatever they want with Cape Canaveral is if each launch or landing in Florida carries someone named Musk."
"If you fail, fail fast"
"If five years ago they had told us that there would be an operator doing 200 launches a year, we would have thought they were crazy because at best they launch 12 or 15," admits veteran engineer Miguel Belló, who defines SpaceX's trajectory as "a great success that has brought about a paradigm shift. "Previously, launchers were developed top-down, with major agencies and governments defining needs. This changed towards private commercial projects that go bottom-up, seeking maximum efficiency."
According to this satellite and launcher expert, SpaceX's vision "has been very good, and on top of that, NASA gave them large contracts" to grow. "It is also important to consider that if you have a billionaire financing the company with his personal fortune, it is easier than if you are a private company like ours or other European companies that have to raise money," explains this engineer.
For Bellón, another key to their success "was not complicating things with super-sophisticated technologies. They developed a single engine used in both the first and second stages, with conventional technology that they developed very well. This way, the investment is smaller, and you have more reliability." Where they did make a technological effort was in the first stage rocket recovery system: "They surprised everyone because they achieved something very difficult, which is recovering rocket stages by landing vertically and softly on a small platform in the middle of the sea. This allows them to offer very attractive prices to their customers. Almost no one designs non-reusable launchers anymore because it has been seen as a success," he assures.
Pablo Gallego, currently at PLD Space, witnessed firsthand the skepticism in the sector when Elon Musk tried to recover parts of the rockets, as he worked at SpaceX from 2015 to 2018. "We failed many times before achieving it, and when I went to forums, some competitors' executives told me it was impossible or unfeasible," recalls this engineer, who believes that it is positive to "suffer a bit and have pressure." Musk's company strategy is based on "constantly testing and learning. And if you fail, fail quickly." According to Pablo Gallego, SpaceX has shown that failure is part of the path to success: "At PLD, we apply the same approach to our Miura rockets." From his point of view, "SpaceX has generated a lot of excitement in the sector, and also a lot of disappointment among those who did things differently."