President Trump Attends SpaceX Launch, Sixth Test Flight

On Tuesday, SpaceX launched its sixth Starship test flight.

And for the launch, President Donald Trump arrived to join Elon Musk to watch it ascend.

This marks the first time an American President has attended one of SpaceX’s launch.

Also, the uncrewed spacecraft achieved a huge milestone by traveling halfway across the face of the earth.

Though this time it wasn’t caught but came down in the Indian Ocean.

While SpaceX planned to recover the “Super Heavy” booster by catching it on the launch tower’s arms, certain conditions were not met.

So, into the water it went.

Despite this, the mission was deemed a success.

For the first time in history, an American president is attending the SpaceX Starship launch. 🇺🇸🚀✨ pic.twitter.com/X0TyuiUCkR

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) November 19, 2024

.@elonmusk greets President @realDonaldTrump on Starbase!! 🚀🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/fkMIubPHzp

— Margo Martin (@margomartin) November 19, 2024

President Trump has arrived to watch the SpaceX launch with @elonmusk! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/D5awPUUQTC

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 19, 2024

CNBC reports:

SpaceX launched the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket on Tuesday, as the company looks to keep up momentum of the mammoth vehicle’s development.

The rocket took off from SpaceX’s private “Starbase” facility near Brownsville, Texas. There were not any people on board the Starship flight.

Starship reached space and traveled halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX had aimed to return the rocket’s “Super Heavy” booster after it separated from Starship and land it on the arms of the company’s launch tower. But SpaceX said during its webcast that the booster did not clear its “commit criteria” needed for the catch attempt, so the booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico instead.

SpaceX typically has a cadre of VIPs to view Starship launches and, with CEO Elon Musk’s close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, the sixth flight wa no different. Trump attended the launch on Tuesday, similar to when he came to watch SpaceX’s first astronaut launch in Florida in 2020 during his first administration.

SpaceX has flown the full Starship rocket system on six spaceflight tests so far since April 2023, at a steadily increasing cadence. Its previous launch last month featured the dramatic first catch of the rocket’s more than 20-story tall booster.

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After the successful fifth flight, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that SpaceX was authorized to move forward with the sixth flight.

The rocket is powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The full system requires more than 10 million pounds of propellant for launch.

“Authorized”?

Why does Elon Musk, or any human, need permission to go up?

Truly a day I will never forget @SpaceX with @realDonaldTrump @ @elonmusk. pic.twitter.com/WJF44MxPzX

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 20, 2024

As for reaching Mars, ummm, who wants to tell him?

But I guess he’s having fun and boosting the morale of humanity.

Engineering is the art of efficiently applying physics.

SpaceX Raptor v3 rocket engine is the epitome of the engineering mantra “The best part is no part” — Can't wait to see this marvel of aerospace engineering in action on Starship and Super Heavy Booster 🚀 pic.twitter.com/8WzOLxYXaG

— ALEX (@ajtourville) November 19, 2024