SpaceX prepares for Starship test flight, Trump expected to attend

SpaceX is preparing for its next Starship megarocket test flight on Tuesday, with US President-elect Donald Trump slated to witness the second-ever attempt to catch the rocket's descending booster using the launch tower's "chopstick" arms.

It comes just over a month after the company first pulled off the technical tour de force that underscored its position as the world leader in reusable rocketry, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

"It was a beautiful thing to see," Trump declared in his election night victory speech, dramatically recounting the feat.

US media outlets have reported on Trump's plans to attend -- further backed by Federal Aviation Administration orders showing flight restrictions for VIP movement have been imposed around the area during the launch window, which opens at 4:00 pm (2200 GMT) from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

Meanwhile, the usual air traffic restrictions over Trump's Florida residence will be lifted at the same time.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been a constant presence at Trump's side since the Republican's election victory, joining him at meetings with Argentina's President Javier Milei and even at a UFC fight. Trump's decision to travel to Musk's home turf is the latest sign of the burgeoning bond between the billionaire duo.

SpaceX will be looking to prove the first catch wasn't a fluke, after Musk revealed -- indirectly, through audio shared on X of a discussion with engineers days later -- that the Super Heavy booster had come perilously close to crashing.

The world's richest man shared a three-minute video flaunting his hack-and-slash skills in the "Diablo IV" video game, during which sharp-eared viewers caught an employee briefing him that "we were one second away" from a system failure that could have ended in catastrophe.

Tuesday's launch will mark the fastest turnaround between test flights for the world's most powerful rocket, a gleaming, stainless steel colossus central to Musk's vision of colonizing Mars and making humanity a multiplanetary species.

NASA is also counting on a specialized version of Starship to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade under its Artemis program.

News.Az