The mega rocket SpaceX Starship took off on Tuesday on its final test flight in the presence of the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, who attended to see the spectacle first-hand alongside billionaire Elon Musk, in a new sign of their increasingly close relationship.
But the Republican leader did not have the opportunity to see the first booster section of the rocket to be recovered by the launch pad’s “stick” arms, an engineering marvel used by the company last month and which he personally praised during his election victory speech.
Instead, the colossal propeller Super Heavy made a more moderate splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Company representatives argued unmet technical criteria, which hindered the success of an event attended by a group of Trump world figures, including Donald Trump Jr.
Flames and smoke were seen after Starship’s super-heavy booster fell into the water off the coast of Texas, on its sixth flight test on November 19, 2024.
On Tuesday afternoon, trump greeted Musk warmly, sporting a red MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat as the pair headed to watch from the control tower at the company’s Starbase base in Boca Chica, Texas, where the rocket lifted off at 4:00 p.m. local (10:00 p.m. GMT) on Starship’s sixth test flight.
Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceXhas been constantly present at Trump’s side since the Republican’s victory, accompanying him in a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei and even in a UFC fight.
Having appointed him as co-director of the “Department of Government Efficiency”, Trump’s decision to visit Musk’s domain is a new sign of the growing bond between the billionaire duo, which has raised suspicions about possible conflicts of interest given the lucrative SpaceX contracts. with NASA and the Pentagon.
Tuesday’s launch marks the quickest turnaround between test flights for the world’s most powerful rocket, a 121-meter-tall stainless steel colossus critical to Musk’s ambition to colonize Mars and make humanity a multiplanetary species.
NASA also has a specialized version of Starship to transport astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade, under its Artemis program.
Ditching during the day
Starship’s sixth flight was seen as a test of whether SpaceX’s first rocket recovery was precision or pure chance, especially after Musk, perhaps inadvertently, revealed that flight was a near-disaster.
In a clip posted on .
The top part that breaks off from Starship’s booster made a partial orbit around Earth and re-entered the atmosphere just over an hour later, but this time in daylight, providing clearer images for analysis. .
Key milestones include restarting Starship’s Raptor engines for the first time in space and testing new thermal protection materials.
The flight also carried Starship’s first payload, a stuffed banana, and serves as a swan song for the current generation of Starship prototypes.
The employees of SpaceX They celebrated when the upper stage landed almost vertically off the northwest coast of Australia, releasing a huge column of water vapor. The live broadcast of the launch and flight was watched by almost nine million viewers.
With twice the thrust of the Saturn V rockets that powered the Apollo missions, Starship is the most powerful rocket in existence. Musk has already announced that its successor, Starship V3, will be “three times more powerful” and could take flight within a year.
Musk also takes off
The flight occurs at a time when Musk is celebrating Trump’s electoral victory on November 5, after having campaigned extensively for the Republican leader’s return and having donated staggering sums of his own fortune to the cause.
His loyalty paid off. Musk has been chosen to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a cheeky nod to the dogecoin cryptocurrency that Musk loves to promote.
That, in turn, has raised concerns that Musk could engage in self-dealing, crossing the line between being a government insider and a corporate titan.
Critics fear he could influence regulatory decisions to benefit his six companies, including SpaceX and its high-profile Starship program.
SpaceX has not shied away from facing perceived regulatory hurdles. Before the fifth flight, the company sharply criticized the licensing process, blaming delays on “frivolous” issues such as an environmental review.
