SpaceX set for Starship's next flight, with Trump watching

A Trump spokesperson shared a video on X of the president-elect boarding a flight to Texas, bound for SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica.

SpaceX founder and CEO Musk has been a constant presence at Trump’s side since the Republican’s election victory, joining him at a meeting with Argentina’s President Javier Milei and even at a UFC bout.

Trump’s decision to travel to Musk’s home turf is the latest sign of the burgeoning bond between the billionaire duo, which has raised questions over possible conflicts of interests given SpaceX’s lucrative contracts with Nasa and the Pentagon.

Tuesday’s launch marks the quickest turnaround between test flights for the world’s most powerful rocket, a gleaming, 121m-tall (400ft) stainless steel colossus central to Musk’s ambition of colonising Mars and making humanity a multiplanetary species.

Nasa is also counting on a specialised version of Starship to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade under its Artemis program.

It will also test whether SpaceX’s first booster catch was pure precision or relied on a stroke of luck after Musk, perhaps inadvertently, disclosed how close the last flight came to disaster.

In a clip posted to X showcasing his gaming chops in “Diablo IV,” sharp-eared fans caught an employee briefing him that the Super Heavy booster was “one second away” from a system failure that could have spelled catastrophe.

Flight six will revisit many of the goals from flight five, with some updates.

If all goes as planned, the returning booster will roar back at supersonic speeds, creating sonic booms as it nears the launch tower.

There, a pair of massive mechanical arms will reach out to catch it and bring it to a halt, around eight to 10 minutes after liftoff.

Starship’s upper stage will make a partial orbit of Earth, re-enter the atmosphere and splash down in the Indian Ocean a little over an hour later, but this time in the daylight, providing clearer visuals for analysis.

Key milestones include reigniting Starship’s Raptor engines for the first time in space and trialing new heat shield materials.

The flight also serves as a swansong for the current generation of Starship prototypes.

With twice the thrust of the Saturn V rockets that powered Apollo missions, Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. Musk has already teased that its successor, Starship V3, will be “3X more powerful” and could take flight within a year.

The flight comes as Musk is riding high on Trump’s November 5 White House win, having campaigned extensively for the returning Republican leader, as well as donating staggering sums from his own fortune to the cause.

His loyalty has paid off. Musk has been tapped to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, a cheeky nod to the meme-based cryptocurrency Musk loves to promote.

That in turn has led to concerns Musk could engage in “self-dealing” as the CEO is poised to straddle the line between government insider and corporate titan.

Critics worry he could sway regulatory decisions to benefit his six companies, including SpaceX and its marquee Starship programme.

SpaceX hasn’t shied away from pushing back against perceived regulatory hurdles.

Ahead of the fifth flight, the company lambasted the licensing process, blaming delays on “frivolous” issues like an unnecessary environmental review.

-By Chandan Khanna with Issam Ahmed in Washington

© Agence France-Presse