President-elect Donald Trump joined mega-billionaire Elon Musk at the launch of his SpaceX Starship rocket on Tuesday, a meeting that underscores the two men’s increasingly close relationship.
Trump attended Musk’s unmanned launch near Brownsville, Texas, wearing his signature red “Make America Great Again” hat. Ahead of his trip, he praised the SpaceX event on social media as the “launch of the largest object ever to be elevated, not only to Space, but simply by lifting off the ground.”
This is the sixth launch of Starship, the largest rocket ever built.
Just months ago, Musk took a backseat to the presidential election and said he wouldn’t endorse a candidate, but he ditched those plans and publicly came out in support of Trump in July, becoming one of the campaign’s biggest donors. Now, he’s Trump’s pick to co-lead the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” ― a new advisory body Trump says he’ll launch next year to streamline government operations and spending.
“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” Trump said in a statement, referring to the government program in the 1940s that created the first atomic bomb.
Musk has been critical of how long it takes the Federal Aviation Administration to approve launch licenses, saying FAA head Michael Whitaker “needs to resign.” Whitaker has said the delays are ties to concerns about sonic booms from SpaceX launches ― something experts say may cause serious structural damage to homes in the densely populated communities nearby the launch sites.
Senator Ted Cruz (Republican, Texas) was also at Tuesday’s launch. He’ll be the next chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees space-related issues.
“Just spectacular,” Cruz posted about the launch on social media.