AXM paper models exhibit at Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts

October 19, 2019 is a date that I will hardly forget. I received an important email asking me to present my SpaceX paper model rockets for a SpaceX exhibit at their local museum in Brownsville, Texas.

You can imagine how I felt when I read SpaceX and Brownsville. When you put both words together, it only means one place, and that is Boca Chica. That is where Elon Musk has built a Launch Facility for StarHopper and Starship!

So after several emails, I agreed to join this project and to send my models to the Museum for the exhibit.

This was in fact my first model exhibition at a Museum. In the past, I had joined projects making models for space agencies like NASA, Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Ecuadorian Space Agency and others. But nothing was compared to this opportunity, where recognition to my work became a reality after all these years.

So this is the story of my trip to Brownsville, Texas from Jan 17 -19, 2020.

Preparing the models

I selected 12 models, including several Falcon 9s, StarHopper and Starship MK-1 for the venue.

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Making the models and shipping them became a challenge. Although I was very careful packaging them, there were some expected problems. Two of the models arrived damaged. So, there I was gain and running against time, I was still able to make two extra models as replacements and these were the models I carried with me on my flight to Texas.

The Lecture

As the date was approaching I was given another challenge, to give a lecture to a High School close to the Museum and to talk about my hobby. I prepared a Powerpoint presentation and focused on describing my approach to papermodeling, and because of the location, I talked about Designing the Starship MK1.

 

Here are photos of the school and the auditorium where I gave my lecture at the Veterans Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas on Jan 17, 2020. The audience were students taking advanced pre college courses in Aerospace studies. This was a great experience not only for me but for the students as well. Special thanks to Vanessa Rivera who is the STAMP and SPACE Administrator from Brownsville Independent School District for organizing this presentation together.

Boca Chica SpaceX Launch Facility

This trip also included some unexpected surprises. Because of my models, I met important people who introduced me to top engineers at the Boca Chica launch facility. I was so fortunate to visit and check the SpaceX Launch Facility in Boca Chica on Jan 18, 2020, home of Starhopper and Starship, myself! This was for me a dream come true.

I was not allowed to take pictures inside the facility but I was treated like a VIP. I toured the place in their “work car” Tesla model 3. Just picture me with my hard hat, my own logo badge and being inside the facility to see up close the hardware for the new Starship SN1. It  was fascinating. I also checked the Starhip MK-1, in this case it’s only part of the upper body and nosecone with its canards. They took me inside that beast, too. I also visited the Starhopper facility. I visited the actual launch pad. The engineers and I spent a great amount of time under the Starhopper and we had a great discussion about the vehicle comparing the details with the model I made. My thanks to Mr John Muratore and Mr David Ball, engineers from SpaceX at Boca Chica.

Here are some of the pictures I was able to take once outside the facility.

The Exhibit on Jan 19, 2020

The exhibit named “Boca Chica to Mars” consisted of the official photography of SpaceX, and honored the South Texas SpaceX team. I was fortunate to meet some of the photographers like Carlos Nuñez, Jaime Almaguer and Austin Barnard and to admire their wonderful photographs. They didn’t realize that through their fabulous shots I was able to put together the details on Starhopper and Starship. Thanks guys! And also, Joe Steven was there. He was the music composer for “Starship Mission to Mars”.

 

This was the brochure of the Gala event.

Preparing all the photography art and my models was in the hands of the Museum’s curating team, led by Diane M. Garza, PhD.

Diane Garza and Joe Steven

With Carlos Nuñez

With Austin Barnard

With Jaime Almaguer

With SpaceX engineers David Ball and John Muratore

Carlos Nuñez, Mr and Mrs Garza, Mr and Mrs Ball, Mr and Mrs Muratore, Deyanira Ramirez Executive Director of the Museum and I

SpaceX engineers and some of the photographers

This was a wonderful experience and very pleased that the Gala event was a success.

Thanks to Diane Garza, PhD who made it all happen and who contacted me for this project; and to the wonderful people I had the pleasure to meet at the Museum. They are Deyanira Ramirez (Executive Director of the Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts (BMFA), Karl J. Lieck (BMFA Art Education Curator), Eraldo Estrada (BMFA volunteer), Roberto Gomez (Master welder), Rolando Gutierrez Jr. (Sign Solution), Mrs Muratore and all the staff.

The exhibition will run through May 22, 2020 at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts.