Elon Musk's spacecraft does it again: Elon Musk's SpaceX company launched its advanced spacecraft, Super Heavy-Starship, at midnight Israel time (Wednesday) from the launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. This launch attracted significant attention, partly due to the presence of the elected President Donald Trump, who watched the event alongside the company’s CEO, Elon Musk. The launch, which took place at 5:00 PM Eastern Time, marks another step in the development of SpaceX’s reusable rockets.
During the event, Trump expressed his enthusiasm for the innovative project and even tweeted on X about his impression of the launch. Later, he joined Musk for a tour of the company’s control center, where he was introduced to the latest developments in SpaceX's technology. Trump, who had previously challenged Musk to take humanity to Mars during his presidency, emphasized the importance of the project both technologically and as a symbol of American strength.
The mission involved launching the most powerful rocket ever built, equipped with 33 Raptor engines generating over 16 million pounds of thrust. The rocket performed complex maneuvers, including re-entering the atmosphere above the Indian Ocean and making a successful landing in the water. These advanced stages were designed to test the reusability of both the first stage of the rocket and the second stage, the Starship, which is intended to carry heavy payloads, satellites, and astronauts.
SpaceX, which already holds contracts worth billions of dollars with the U.S. government, continues to expand its operations. The company now plays a central role in launching astronauts, commercial satellites, and military satellites. Additionally, it is developing a unique version of the Starship to be used by NASA for landing astronauts on the Moon as part of the Artemis program.
Musk has previously presented his vision of making humanity multi-planetary, with the Starship as the central component in realizing this vision. According to his plans, the spacecraft will initially be used to transport cargo and infrastructure to Mars, ahead of a human landing on the planet in the next decade.
The event also highlighted the new relationship between Musk and the future U.S. administration. Trump recently announced that Musk, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, would lead a new agency aimed at streamlining government operations and reducing bureaucracy. Musk has stated that the agency will bring about significant changes to the system and work to eliminate unnecessary waste.
The latest launch underscores SpaceX’s position as a leading player in the global space market. The company continues to lead in the development of groundbreaking technologies while pursuing an ambitious vision to make human space exploration a more accessible reality. From this launch, which garnered global attention, it is clear that SpaceX is not just planning for the future but is also taking significant steps to lead us there.