SpaceX launches Starship Rocket as Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch

SpaceX achieved new feats during the sixth major test launch of its Starship system, but ended a long-awaited mid-air “catch” of the rocket’s booster as newly elected President Donald Trump looked on in South Texas.

SpaceX’s launch system, consisting of the booster and upper spacecraft Starship, cleared the tower shortly after 4pm local time on Tuesday. But minutes into the flight, SpaceX scrapped plans to try to catch the booster with giant mechanical arms – known as “chopsticks” – that the company completed during his previous flight. The booster, named Super Heavy, was still able to perform a controlled landing in the ocean.

“It was pretty epic on the first attempt, but the safety of the teams and the public and the platform itself is paramount,” SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said during a live broadcast. “So we accept compromises.”

After Super Heavy landed in the Gulf of Mexico, Starship continued its journey through space. At one point, it successfully restarted one of its Raptor engines – the first time SpaceX has been able to do so during these flight tests. The spaceship will have to restart its engines to control the descent to Earth and maneuver through space.

The spaceship then orbited most of the globe before plunging through the atmosphere for about 45 minutes during the mission. The body was engulfed in the reddish orange glow of plasma as the enhanced heat shield endured intense temperatures as it hurtled back to Earth.

The spaceship appeared to survive the reentry and moved its outer flaps to guide the descent, although some showed signs of burns and minor damage. As the Starship fell through the clouds, it turned itself over and restarted its engines to right itself and splash gently into the Indian Ocean shortly after 6:00 PM New York time. Then it appeared to catch fire.

“It turned out that the vehicle had more capabilities than our calculations predicted, so we tested as if we were flying,” Tice said.

Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever developed, is under contract to function as a lunar lander that NASA will use to put humans back on the moon for the first time in half a century. It is the centerpiece of Musk’s ambition to establish a settlement on Mars.

The vehicle is also intended to revolutionize SpaceX’s business plan. Designed to be completely reusable, Starship will be much cheaper to fly than any other rocket, according to SpaceX, and will eventually replace the company’s flagship Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

But to meet the promise of delivering a fully reusable rocket, SpaceX must refine its technology to retrieve all of the spacecraft’s components after launch.

Around the time SpaceX aborted the booster capture, Trump and Musk left to visit the Starfactory courtyard for a visual tour of the factory bays and rockets.

Trump had arrived with Musk at a launch viewing location about an hour before the launch. Trump, wearing a blue suit and red MAGA hat, was flanked by allies including Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr. from Texas, as the group bombarded Musk with questions about how the launch works.

It was Trump’s first visit to a spaceship launch. It follows several appearances with Musk, who has spent a significant amount of time at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, participating in transition meetings and calls with foreign leaders. The billionaire, who campaigned on Trump’s behalf in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, will head a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, an entity that will recommend federal cuts, alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk, who has been a near-constant factor in Trump’s inner circle since the Nov. 5 election, has maintained that over-regulation, especially around Starship, played a role in his decision to support the Republican.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Friday that as many as 400 Starship flights are possible over the next four years. That frequency can only happen if SpaceX perfects its landing strategy so the company can quickly turn the rockets around for their next flights. Shotwell described the process as similar to the way airlines reduce the costs of owning and operating commercial jetliners.

During the test in October, the booster crashed very close to the tower, Musk said in a video on his X platform. SpaceX will have to address that problem, as well as a laundry list of other issues, such as refueling the vehicle in space, before Starship delivers on the full scope of Musk’s plans.

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