SpaceX’s Starship megarocket took off on its latest test flight on Tuesday, with President-elect Donald Trump joining Elon Musk for a first-hand look at the spectacle in the latest sign of their close ties.
But the Republican leader didn’t get a chance to see the booster stage stuck in the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms, an engineering marvel demonstrated by the company last month and which he praised in person during his election victory speech.
Instead, the massive Super Heavy first stage splashed more slowly into the Gulf of Mexico. Company representatives cited incomplete technical criteria that overshadowed the victory at the event, which was attended by many Trump world figures, including Donald Trump Jr.
Earlier, Trump, wearing a red MAGA hat, warmly welcomed Musk on Tuesday afternoon as the pair stepped out to watch from the control tower of the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, where the rocket blasted off at 4:00 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on the sixth test flight for Starship.
SpaceX founder and CEO Musk has been a frequent presence with Trump since the incoming president’s election victory, meeting with Argentinian President Javier Miley and even joining him at a UFC bout.
Trump’s decision to visit Musk’s home region was the latest sign of a growing alliance between the billionaire pair, who have raised questions over a potential conflict of interest given SpaceX’s lucrative contracts with NASA and the Pentagon.
Tuesday’s launch marked the quickest turnaround between test flights for the world’s most powerful rocket, a gleaming, 121-meter-tall (400-foot) stainless steel Colossus that envisions Musk’s plans to colonize Mars and transform humanity into a multiplanetary species. It is the center of ambition to create.
Musk aims to launch the first unmanned mission to the Red Planet as early as 2026, coinciding with the next “Mars Transfer Window” – a period when travel between Earth and Mars is shortest.
NASA is also counting on a special version of Starship to carry astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade under its Artemis program.
Stuffed Banana
Starship flight six was seen as a test of whether SpaceX’s first booster catch was pure accuracy or relied on a stroke of luck after Musk — perhaps inadvertently — revealed how close the last flight came to disaster. .
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Starship’s upper stage will make a partial orbit around Earth, re-enter the atmosphere and splash down in the Indian Ocean more than an hour later, but this time in daylight, providing clear views for analysis.
Major milestones include restarting Starship’s Raptor engines in space for the first time and testing new heat shield materials. The flight also features Starship’s first payload – a stuffed banana – and serves as a swan song for the current generation of Starship prototypes.
With twice the thrust of the Saturn V rocket that powered the Apollo missions, Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. Musk has already teased that its successor, Starship V3, will be “3X more powerful” and could fly within a year.
musk is riding high
The flight comes as Musk remains bullish on Trump’s November 5 White House victory, having campaigned extensively for the returning Republican leader, as well as donating a surprising amount of his own fortune.
His loyalty has paid off. Musk has been chosen to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — or DOGE, a cheeky nod to the meme-based cryptocurrency Musk likes to promote.
This has resulted in concerns that Musk may engage in “self-dealing” as the CEO prepares to cross the line between government insider and corporate titan.
Critics worry he could influence regulatory decisions to benefit six of his companies, including SpaceX and its flagship Starship program, which has faced launch delays tied to environmental reviews the company called “unnecessary.” .
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