United States President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday attended the launch of SpaceX's Starship alongside company founder Elon Musk. The event took place at SpaceX's rocket development site in Boca Chica, Texas, marking the sixth test flight of the Starship rocket.
The primary goals of this test flight included ensuring the return of the booster to the launch site for recovery, reigniting a Raptor engine while in space, and testing various heatshield experiments and manoeuvring adjustments for the spacecraft's reentry and descent over the Indian Ocean, as reported by AFP.
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The test flight was a success, with the rocket splashing down at its designated target in the Indian Ocean, marking a significant milestone in the development of SpaceX's ambitious Starship programme.
In a post on X, Elon Musk wrote, “To the moon and beyond!”.
The flight comes at a time when Elon Musk is riding high after Donald Trump's victory in the November 5 White House race. Musk had been a vocal supporter of Trump, campaigning extensively for the returning Republican leader and making significant personal donations to the cause.
His loyalty has now been rewarded, as Musk has been appointed to co-lead a new ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ or DOGE, a playful reference to the popular meme-based cryptocurrency that Musk is known to champion.
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As reported by AFP, Tuesday's launch of SpaceX's Starship marked the fastest turnaround between test flights for the world's most powerful rocket, a towering 121-meter (400-foot) stainless steel giant that is key to Elon Musk's goal of making humanity a multiplanetary species.
The Starship is central to Musk's ambition of colonising Mars, with plans to send the first uncrewed missions to the Red Planet as early as 2026, aligning with the next “Mars transfer window” — a time when Earth and Mars are closest, making the journey more efficient.
In addition to Musk's Mars aspirations, NASA is also counting on a specialised version of the Starship to transport astronauts to the lunar surface as part of its Artemis programme later this decade. The collaboration highlights the rocket's growing role in humanity's exploration of space, AFP further reported.
(With inputs from AFP)
