Donald Trump is reportedly attending the highly-anticipated sixth test launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, as the president elect gets more chummy with rocket billionaire Elon Musk.
Starship is getting ready to fly for its sixth test flight on Tuesday. The rocket will liftoff from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, with a 30-minute launch window that opens at 5 p.m. ET (you can watch the launch live right here).
An anonymous source told Reuters that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued temporary flight restrictions for “VIP Movement” over Brownsville, Texas, indicating that SpaceX founder and CEO Musk may be joined by Trump at the launch site as the pair solidify their partnership. As Musk positions himself as a faithful ally to Trump, his bond with the president-elect could help his rocket company further entrench its near-monopoly-like hold on the spaceflight industry.
Musk poured around $120 million into the election campaign, doing his best to help re-elect Trump for a second term. In return, Musk has joined Trump in meetings with world leaders (he joined Trump on call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the day after the election) and is anticipated to have major influence over the president-elect’s decision-making process, particularly when it comes to space policy. Musk has reportedly asked Trump to hire SpaceX employees as top government officials, according to The New York Times. The Trump administration could channel more taxpayer money toward SpaceX, further solidifying the company’s near-monopoly in the spaceflight market.
Trump has also named Musk to lead a government efficiency drive, which is intended to dismantle bureaucracy and restructure regulatory bodies. As SpaceX strives to launch Starship on a regular basis, Musk has incessantly complained about regulatory restraints by the FAA that prevent him from flying his megarocket more frequently. Last month, SpaceX applied to modify its existing license for Starship launches from the Boca Chica site in Texas, requesting that the FAA increase its launch and landing cadence up to 25 times per year. The FAA is evaluating SpaceX’s request and analyzing the environmental impact Starship may have on the launch site.
Tuesday’s launch will see SpaceX attempt another booster catch after a groundbreaking fifth test flight. Earlier in October, Starship’s Super Heavy 232-foot-tall (71 meters) booster gently came down towards a special tower, named Mechazilla, which caught the rocket with its extended mechanical arms like a giant pair of chopsticks. SpaceX is aiming to improve its megarocket’s reusability with each launch and hopes Starship will be ready to transport astronauts to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis 3 mission in September 2026.
Even before re-assuming his position as president, Trump is establishing himself as a rocket man, and his second term is expected to shake up spaceflight.
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