Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump attended Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship launch in Texas on Tuesday as his return to office may accelerate future space efforts.
The 400-foot rocket system designed to one day transport astronauts to the moon and Mars launched at 4:00 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday from Boca Chica.
“I’m heading to the Great State of Texas to watch the launch of the largest object ever to be elevated, not only to Space, but simply by lifting off the ground. Good luck to Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project!” Trump posted to Truth Social ahead of his visit.
Trump later posted an image of the event with the Starship launching in the background.
On November 13, Trump appointed Musk as the co-leader of a new government efficiency initiative aimed at eliminating wasteful spending and burdensome regulations within the federal government, a mission that Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, has strongly advocated for.
Trump wrote at the time, “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.”
“Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a long time,” he went on, describing how this new department will offer advice from outside of the government and work with the Trump administration to “drive large scale structural reform.”
Musk has expressed frustration with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over its regulations on commercial rocket launches, arguing that they hinder SpaceX’s progress toward its goal of reaching Mars.
However, the FAA’s approval of SpaceX’s Starship launch on Tuesday marked the fastest regulatory process yet for the company, as the agency streamlined its licensing procedures to better accommodate the rapid growth of the U.S. space sector.
Musk outlined four main goals for the test flight: restarting Starship’s space-grade engine mid-flight, achieving a more visible ocean landing during the day (as previous attempts were conducted at night), subjecting Starship to higher heat during reentry, and improving the speed of the booster landing.