Musk launches SpaceX Starship rocket with Trump by his side | Al Jazeera News
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, launched the sixth test of his SpaceX rocket with the President-elect of the United States Donald Trump joining him to watch.
Trump and Musk traveled to Brownsville, Texas on Tuesday to attend the launch of the massive Starship rocket at the SpaceX test site near Boca Chica.
The rocket took off after 5pm (23:00 GMT), almost an hour behind schedule. But SpaceX chose to abandon a planned attempt to catch the world’s first rocket booster using the ‘chopstick’ method, instead letting it fall into the ocean.
Starship’s final test flight in October made headlines after the Super Heavy booster made a dramatic return to the launch pad where it was caught in the air by giant “chopstick” arms attached to SpaceX’s launch tower.
Starship Lift! pic.twitter.com/rSLQ2DDy63
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024
Trump’s presence is part of a growing bond with Musk – owner of SpaceX, electric car maker Tesla and social media platform X – who is a staunch political supporter, having spent around $130m to help the former president get re-elected.
Trump was expected to be joined by his son Donald Jr. and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
Starship, the largest rocket ever built, is designed to be a reusable vehicle for flying goods and people beyond Earth.
Musk’s constant presence
Trump’s presence at the launch is “another example of Musk’s growing role in Trump’s orbit”, according to a CNN report.
Since Trump won the November 5 presidential election, Musk has been a regular at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
He advised Trump on candidates for the new administration and joined the president-elect’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Musk also flew with Trump to a meeting with House Republicans in Washington, DC last Wednesday, and joined him at the Ultimate Fighting Championship at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday.
Trump recently rewarded Musk with his political support by nominating him, along with Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, to advise the newly created Department of Public Works to cut government spending.
“Most importantly, we will drive out the waste and massive fraud that exists within our $6.5 billion annual government spending,” Trump said in a statement on the nomination, one of his first since winning the election.
Musk’s businesses could personally benefit from his close relationship with Trump. SpaceX – whose mission is to eventually colonize Mars – has billions of dollars in government contracts. The automaker has also battled with U.S. federal regulators over safety issues involving autonomous driving, which is found in its Tesla electric cars.
“Trump is very focused on people who break the rules and get away with it,” William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Associated Press.
“Musk has shown great success in doing that.”
Not always friends
The two weren’t always so close. Trump used to mock Musk in his campaign speeches and Musk once said it was time for Trump to “hang up his hat and sail off into the sunset” because he was too old to be president.
But that changed after Trump survived an assassination attempt before the election. Musk endorsed Trump and became a key figure in the Republican campaign.
Trump even started talking about Musk’s space activities while campaigning. He was surprised when the Starship’s reusable rocket booster returned to the launch tower and was grabbed by mechanical arms.
“Do you see the way that child lives today?” Trump asked the crowd at a political rally after that Starship test.
So far there are no indications that the friendship formed during the election will heal.
Last week, Musk was the guest of honor at a black tie event at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump, in his remarks that night, said Musk’s IQ was “as high as it gets” and praised him as “a really good guy.”
Musk was then invited to address the crowd.
“The public gave us a mandate that wasn’t clear,” Musk said of the election results, sounding more like a Trump ally than a buddy.
