Staff Reports
Under a Texas sun that would make even a barbecue smokehouse jealous, President-elect Donald Trump stood next to Elon Musk for a front-row seat to witness SpaceX’s sixth test flight of the Starship rocket. This beast of a vehicle, boasting more power than a wrestling match between an elephant and a grizzly bear, blasted off from SpaceX’s sprawling headquarters in Brownsville, delivering a performance that reminded everyone why America used to be known for its innovation—before the bureaucrats tried to micromanage it out of existence.
The launch was a pivotal moment for SpaceX as it gears up to boldly go where no politically correct administration has dared to go: the moon and eventually Mars. It wasn’t just the tech enthusiasts applauding—Trump, Musk, and a crowd of onlookers were all on board with the spectacle, clearly enjoying a moment where American exceptionalism took the stage. Notably, the test flight happened at 5 p.m. EST, which is prime-time for anything truly epic.
Boldly up and briefly down, the Starship rose majestically, performing a series of maneuvers to assess its upgrades. This time around, it managed to ignite a Raptor engine in space for the first time, a feat SpaceX celebrated like it had just won the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the rocket’s Super Heavy booster took a different approach to land recovery, opting for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead of attempting to land on solid ground. Apparently, the chopsticks designed to catch it were deemed too risky—a decision that had to make any viewer chuckle at the thought of a rocket caught in a clumsy embrace.
President Trump looked super proud of his friend Elon Musk and of America as that SpaceX rocket lifted off.
American excellence is being displayed on the world stage yet again. pic.twitter.com/Sx0lRZzUsY
— George (@BehizyTweets) November 19, 2024
Starship, however, comes out smelling like roses, splashing down peacefully in the Indian Ocean after its journey, a sign that SpaceX is working out the kinks on its road to interplanetary travel. Given the history of earlier recovery attempts, this landing was significant enough to warrant a victory lap, even if it doesn’t promise free tacos at the border.
Trump has always made American dominance in space a priority during his presidency. His partnership with Musk is shaping up to be the kind of collaboration that could turn dreams into reality. Recently, he appointed Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to spearhead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a snappy acronym designed to take a chainsaw to bureaucracy. The goal: streamline government operations, cut wasteful spending, and simplify a federal system that sometimes feels convoluted enough to rival a game of Twister.
In a sign of loyalty that wouldn’t be out of place in a buddy cop movie, Musk has poured over $118 million into Trump’s election campaign through his America PAC. Joint appearances, like their recent outing to a UFC fight in New York City, show the world that the dream team is more than just a rumor, and it brings a certain swagger back to the American landscape. Rumor has it that deregulation plans for self-driving vehicles are in the works, which is only good news for Tesla and anyone who’s ever wanted a little less red tape while cruising in their electric chariot.
Musk launched SpaceX in 2002 with a vision to make space exploration as commercial as a drive-thru restaurant. When fully operational, Starship will not just take America to the moon; it aims to establish human colonies on Mars, making the extraterrestrial real estate market the next big investment opportunity. With NASA lining up to use this rocket for lunar missions by 2026, it seems the era of America dreaming big again might just hold some serious merit—and the excitement is palpable.
