Trump joins Musk for launch
President-Elect Donald Trump traveled to Brownsville this afternoon to watch SpaceX’s sixth flight test of Starship, which reached an altitude of 190 kilometers before returning to the Earth’s surface for a landing in the Indian Ocean, as planned.
Starship is a “fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo” to Earth orbit “and beyond,” according to SpaceX’s website. It is the “world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.”
Hundreds of people traveled to Brownsville to watch the launch, including San Antonio resident Cher Lively, who viewed the event from just past Gayman Bridge off Texas Highway 48, which runs from Brownsville to Port Isabel.
Lively said she was hoping to not only watch the launch but see Trump, too.
The president-elect joined SpaceX founder and Chief Operating Officer Elon Musk for the launch.
Abilene residents and U.S. Air Force Maintainers Chasse Zagora and Andrew Therrien traveled to Gayman Bridge to see Starship in person.
“I love rockets,” Zagora said. “I’ve been following SpaceX for so long, and finally being here, I mean, me and [Therrien] drove out eight hours just to be here.”
The pair’s setup consisted of a Canon camera, a Celestron telescope, binoculars and a GoPro.
Starship reached a speed of 26,815 kilometers per hour and was able to reorient itself using mechanical flaps before returning for landing.
During SpaceX’s livestream of the launch, Dan Huot, of the SpaceX communications team, said a new version of the ship is “coming soon” and more launches can be expected.
