The bond between Elon Musk and Donald Trump seems to be getting stronger.
Musk was a giant supporter of Trump’s marketing campaign over the previous few months, and the president-elect not too long ago appointed the SpaceX founder and CEO to co-lead the brand new “Division of Authorities Effectivity,” which goals to slash laws and scale back authorities spending.
And immediately (Nov. 19), Trump made the trek to South Texas to look at SpaceX launch its big Starship rocket for the sixth time ever.
“I am heading to the Nice State of Texas to look at the launch of the biggest object ever to be elevated, not solely to House, however just by lifting off the bottom. Good luck to @ElonMusk and the Nice Patriots concerned on this unbelievable venture!” Trump posted immediately on X, the social media platform that Musk owns.
Associated: SpaceX Starship launches banana to area, skips big rocket catch on sixth check flight (video, images)
Musk gave Trump and a number of other different VIPs a tour of mission management earlier than the Starship launch, which occurred from SpaceX’s Starbase web site, close to the Texas border metropolis of Brownsville.
Trump watched the liftoff from a protected distance, taking the motion in from throughout a decent-size physique of water.
SpaceX needed to catch Starship’s first-stage booster, often called Tremendous Heavy, with the “chopstick” arms of Starbase’s launch tower throughout immediately’s check flight, because it did throughout the newest Starship flight, on Oct. 13. However engineers seen one thing within the flight information immediately and referred to as the try off, as a substitute diverting Tremendous Heavy to a tender splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico.
Just about the whole lot else went in accordance with plan immediately, nevertheless. For instance, Starship’s 165-foot-tall (50 meters) higher stage, referred to as Starship or just “Ship,” efficiently re-lit one in every of its engines in area, demonstrating a functionality that can be wanted throughout orbital missions down the street.
And Ship survived its return journey via Earth’s environment in a single piece immediately, hitting its goal splashdown zone within the Indian Ocean about 65.5 minutes after liftoff.
Trump has proven enthusiasm earlier than for Starship, which SpaceX is growing to take individuals and cargo to the moon and Mars.
For example, in a speech broadcast on election evening (Nov. 5), Trump recalled watching the “chopsticks” booster catch of Tremendous Heavy on Oct. 13
“And I referred to as Elon. I mentioned, ‘Elon, was that you simply?’ He mentioned, ‘Sure, it was.’ I mentioned, ‘Who else can do this? Can Russia do it? ‘No.’ Can China do it?’ ‘No,'” Trump mentioned. “‘Can the USA do it, aside from you?’ ‘No, no one can do this.’ I mentioned, ‘That is why I really like you, Elon, that is nice.'”
