Elon Musk returns to Starbase after SpaceX’s record IPO week

Elon Musk flew from Isle-A-Port STOLport in Wisconsin to Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport on June 19, a 93-minute hop in his Gulfstream G650ER, N628TS. The trip brought him back to Starbase, the South Texas launch site he now calls home.

The same week, SpaceX received investment-grade credit ratings from Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P Global — Moody’s assigned a Baa1 with stable outlook, per Euronews — days after the company’s record $85.7 billion IPO. Musk also disclosed SpaceX’s $60 billion acquisition of AI startup Cursor, as reported by Tesla Oracle, part of his plan to build AI data centers in space using Starship. The stock has since slid 18% from its opening high, and the company faces growing local friction: a Reuters report this week detailed lawsuits over property damage from launches and a surge in Brownsville housing prices.

This is Musk’s second documented arrival at KBRO in three days, following flights that shuttled him between California, Texas, and Tennessee. With Starbase now central to both Starship production and his AI ambitions, the pattern suggests the isolated “technology monastery” — as Musk himself described it — is where the next phase of SpaceX’s expansion will unfold.