President-elect Donald Trump will watch the sixth SpaceX Starship launch in person today (Nov. 19).
Trump confirmed his attendance at the Starship launch on X, formerly Twitter. "Good luck to Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project," Trump added in the post (capitalization his) referring to the SpaceX founder and CEO.
Trump's presence at the launch is another signal of the growing role that Musk will play in the next presidential administration. Today's SpaceX launch, called Integrated Flight Test-6 (IFT-6), is scheduled to lift off during a 30-minute window that opens at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT; 4 p.m. local Texas time). You can watch live at Space.com.
Related: What to expect during SpaceX's 6th Starship test flight on Nov. 19
Last week, Trump co-appointed Musk to a new "Department of Government Efficiency" along with entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy. (The Washington Post notes this "department" is more of an advisory council, given departments must be created by congressional authorization.)
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies — Essential to the Save America Movement," Trump wrote in a statement (capitalization his).
Musk has several businesses that could benefit from his involvement in the Trump administration, according to NPR.
"His electric car company Tesla gets government funding and has received millions to install EV charging stations. His rocket company SpaceX has won billion-dollar government contracts for moon missions. And his satellite internet company, Starlink, has also gotten millions in subsidies from the federal government," NPR wrote earlier this month.
Previous to Trump's confirmation that he would go to Texas in person, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued "temporary flight restrictions for VIP [very important person] movement" near Starship's launch site in Brownsville, Texas on Monday (Nov. 18), according to Reuters. Simultaneously, a flight restriction at Trump's Palm Beach, Florida property is being temporarily removed.
Musk has been vocal about the FAA's role in regulating past Starship launches. Tagging a post on X about Starship regulation in September, for example, Musk said current FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker "needs to resign." Musk is also the owner of X.
The Starship megarocket includes two fully reusable elements — a huge first stage called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft named Starship, or simply "Ship." Musk plan to use Starship for heavy-launch missions to the moon and Mars; the spacecraft has successfully completed a few space flight tests since 2022 but has yet to achieve Earth-orbiting speed.
This story was updated at 3 p.m. EST with confirmation of Trump's attendance.
