By CATHERINE DONNELLY
Special to the PRESS
SpaceX devotees, especially behind-the-scenes content producers, gathered at Hopper Haus in Port Isabel on Saturday, April 20, for the 1st Annual Gateway Community Awards Ceremony. The event marked the anniversary of Starship’s first integrated flight test (IFT-1).
The evening started with Andrew Clifford, the emcee, turning the microphone over to Barton Bickerton, one of the owners of Hopper Haus, who broke the ice by interviewing some of the nominees before they presented the awards.
First up was Anthony Gomez from Rocket Ranch (campground and Air B-n-B in Brownsville) for one of the best vantage points to watch rocket activity. It’s a “space community” right on the Rio Grande and most importantly, on the edge of the inclusion zone. For many rocket watchers, it’s a home away from home.
SpaceX was the impetus for the ranch. Watching the launches was so moving and inspirational that Gomez knew he wanted to participate.
Gomez predicts that within the next five years, Starbase will build the infrastructure to become its own city. This will drive people and businesses here, with upstarts being only limited by their imagination. In answer to Bickerton’s question, Gomez would absolutely want a seat on Starship 50, the first SpaceX starship planned to carry passengers to Mars.
Jessica Bonsall, known by her online handles of “SparkyInfinity” and “SpaceGirlFalcon,” likes the way that this community of content producers makes it possible for people from all over the world to watch all the testing and developments of SpaceX from the comfort of their own homes. Bonsall grew up loving space travel and was disappointed in Cape Canaveral’s slowing down of flight launches. SpaceX has revitalized her love; people can get close enough to document what’s happening. Would she want to go to Mars? “Oh, yeah.”
Andrew Keating from Cosmic Perspective, who also helps with Everyday Astronaut, was interviewed next.
Keating came down to the RGV with a goal to keep producing for the group. When asked why he feels more comfortable behind the scenes, Dodd replied that it is where he does his most compelling work.
“I just keep my head down and do my thing,” said Keating. “And Starship 50? Yeah, why not?”
Carlos Nunez, aka Starbasesurfer, said he had been documenting Starbase since the beginning.
“I had surfed Boca Chica in the late ‘70s, so it was natural to want to document all of the changes as SpaceX went from zero to hero,” said Nunez. “The past five years have flown by at warp speed.”
Ron Parker, aka “RonHardrock” on YouTube, was nominated for Best Rising Technical Channel. His inspiration came when he was watching a launch from Isla Blanca Park, and a fellow observer gave him a piece of heat shield tile from a past launch. That free piece of one of the early Hoppers started his addiction, and he now has tiles from the United States, Mexico, Antigua, the Bahamas, and other places around the globe. He would consider going up in Starship 50 once SpaceX launches at least five successful launches beforehand.
John Cargile, nominated for Best Rising Photographer, contributes to the YouTube channel “What About It!?” Cargile puts out two episodes weekly and tries to be different by being more bombastic and animated. He hails from San Antonio and has been a photographer for ten years.
“I couldn’t believe that there was going to be space flight pretty much in my backyard,” said Cargile. “I came down in July 2021 and have been addicted ever since.”
He feels that there are two types of people in the world: those who look at pictures and those who take them. He wanted to be the guy who took those pictures. Cargile added that after being one of the people who grind daily, he is thankful for this opportunity to get together with the group and celebrate the body of work.
The sculpture was slightly lit “G” for Gateway, as in “Gateway to Mars.”
The awards lineup
Best Cinematic Channel: Cosmic Perspective
Best Rising Cinematic Channel: Felix’s Space Time
Best Technical Channel: CSI Starbase
Best Rising Technical Channel: Felix’s Space Time (who started at 12 and is now only 15!)
Best Live Event Commentary Channel (live streamed): NASASpaceFlight
Best Rising Live Event Commentary Channel: Spacejunkie Űrutazás (from Hungary)
(the winner had opted out of the award, so it went to the second-place winner)
Best International Starbase Channel: Marcus House
Best Photographer: Mauricio Atilano from RGV Aerial Photography and Team (Edinburg, TX)
Best Rising Photographer: John Cargile
Best 3-D Artist: Ryan Hansen Space
Best Rising 3-D Artist: THE SPACE ENGINEER (with 3D Daniel getting an honorable mention)
Best Written Format Starbase Journalism: NASASpaceFlight
Best Info Graphics: The Ringwatchers
Best Behind-the-Scenes Contributor: Stefanie Schlang
Best Weekly Starbase Update Show: What About It!?
Best Cinematic Film: Everyday Astronaut for Starship IFT-2 Supercut
Best Deep Dive Video: Everyday Astronaut for How Starting a Rocket Engine is Hard!
Best Starbase Photograph: Trevor Mahlmann for “The 2nd Integrated Flight of Starship”
Best Starbase Art: The Daily Hopper for Starship/Starbase Comic Series
Best IFT-1 or IFT-2 Footage Video: Everyday Astronaut for “IFT1”
Best IFT-1 or IFT-2 Live Coverage: NASASpaceFlight for “IFT-2”
Most Inspiring Channel/Artist/Creator: Everyday Astronaut
Kindest Channel Community: What About It!?
Most Dedicated Community Channel: NASASpaceFlight
Most Supportive Individual of the Community: VIX/VIXXI/VICKICOCKS
Ryan Chylinski of Cosmic Perspective wanted to thank everyone for watching, listening, and sharing.
Jack Beyer of NASASpaceFlight, a space news organization, stated that everyone that covers Starbase life works their butts off in the sun battling mosquitoes and all kinds of things while doing 12-hour live streams, so it’s good to take the time to recognize these content providers for what they’re doing to document this phenomenon. It’s all about getting people excited about the future of space flight.
When announcing the categories for 3-D artists, Clifford emphasized the importance of people being able to see graphics of what has yet to happen. Infographics help explain complex technical topics.
To finish the awards ceremony, Clifford announced a few Honorary Awards. He presented the first one for SpaceX because nothing would be possible without it. He also presented one each to the Hopper Haus and Rocket Ranch for being the group’s homes away from home. The awards ceremony was created and run by Andrew Clifford of the YouTube Channel “Rocket Future.”
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