President-elect Donald Trump is expected to attend the latest launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket Tuesday (local time), multiple outlets reported, in a show of support for billionaire and confidant Elon Musk, who has grown increasingly close to the next president since pouring more than $100 million into his reelection campaign.
A SpaceX sign in Boca Chica, Texas, on March 13, 2024.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- SpaceX, which is owned by Musk, will launch its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster from south Texas at around 5 p.m. EST Tuesday, the sixth test flight for the Starship system.
- The flight will test the booster’s ability to return to its launch tower, which it has done before, and will focus on upgrades made to improve propulsion systems and increase structural strength.
- The launch will also include an attempt to reignite the rocket’s Raptor engine while in space, a maneuver needed for future orbital missions, and see the rocket attempt another controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean, foc
used on testing new heatshield experiments and maneuvering changes. - The test flight will be observed in person by Trump, The New York Times and Politico reported citing unnamed sources, who has been open about his admiration of SpaceX, including the repeated retelling of a story in which he was on a call with a business leader but was so captivated by watching an earlier Starship test flight, he had to put the call on hold.
Crucial Quote
“And I called Elon. I said, ‘Elon, was that you?’ He said, ‘Yes, it was.’ I said, ‘Who else can do that? Can Russia do it? ‘No.’ Can China do it?’ ‘No,” Trump said while telling a story about watching Starship’s fifth test flight. “‘Can the United States do it, other than you?’ ‘No, nobody can do that.’ I said, ‘That’s why I love you, Elon, that’s great.'”
Key Background
The Starship system is considered crucial to SpaceX’s goal of eventually carrying humans to Mars for the first time, and NASA is counting on it as part of its Artemis program to put man back on the moon. SpaceX was awarded NASA’s first Human Landing Services contract in 2021 and Starship was chosen as the lunar lander for Artemis 3, the mission that will put NASA astronauts on the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo missions in 1972. Artemis 3 is currently scheduled to launch next fall.
Big Number
$4.4 billion. That’s how much the federal government has committed to SpaceX to pay for Starship missions to the moon, according to The New York Times.
Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. watch a fight during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024.
AFP via Getty Images
Tangent
Trump and Musk, the richest person in the world, have grown closer since last year when they reportedly met to discuss a potential buyout of Trump’s Truth Social platform. Musk endorsed Trump for president after an assassination attempt on the politician in July, and that same month he started the pro-Trump America PAC, which spent an estimated $200 million supporting the Republican in the presidential race. Most of that money came directly from Musk.
Musk watched the election night results roll in from Mar-a-Lago in Florida with Trump, who praised him heavily in his victory speech: “We have a new star. A star is born, Elon… He’s an amazing guy,” Trump said. Since the election, the pair have been seemingly inseparable. Trump named billionaires Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, his one-time primary opponent, to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” Musk has reportedly attended frequent meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, traveled with him to a House GOP conference meeting in Washington DC, sat ringside with Trump at the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match in New York Friday and appeared in a now-viral photo aboard Trump’s private plane with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Donald Trump Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick for Health and Human Services secretary.
Forbes Valuation
Musk, who founded Tesla, SpaceX and other companies, is ranked as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $313.9 billion as of Tuesday, roughly $50 billion more than he was worth before Trump won the election. Trump has an estimated $5.9 billion net worth as of Wednesday thanks to his stakes in Truth Social’s parent company, the Trump Media and Technology Group, his real estate investments and other assets.
