Musk and Trump's bromance continues - but will it go up in smoke?
In return for helping him get elected Elon Musk can probably rely on Donald Trump's support in his business endeavours. But how much further will their partnership go?
Wednesday 20 November 2024 01:23, UK
"If you're not failing, you're not innovating enough," Elon Musk once said when comparing his rocket company SpaceX to a more risk-averse NASA.
In that sense today's failure to "catch" his Super Heavy booster was an engineering success - but it can't have been the outcome Mr Musk was hoping for on this, of all tests.
It was after all the one president-elect Trump and other key MAGA leaders had flown all the way to South Texas to see.
Last month SpaceX stuck the landing.
The Super Heavy booster effectively defying gravity, the laws of motion, and many sceptical rocket scientists, by slowing from the speed of a bullet to a graceful hover above the launch pad it had just left, before being caught in giant mechanical arms.
If Mr Trump and his leadership team had come down to bask in the magic of that moment they missed while on the campaign trail - they would have been disappointed.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Paste BN app for free
But so too would anyone hoping to gain insights into the deepening relationship between the world's richest man, and the one soon to be the world's most powerful.
Mr Musk appeared unfazed by the loss of the booster, Mr Trump apparently interested in what he had to say by way of explanation - although the wind meant you couldn't hear it.
Politics aside, the rest of the test was a success.
The booster performed a near-perfect hover above the Gulf of Mexico before sinking, as gracefully as 71 metres of steel can, into the sea.
This demonstrated the precision control necessary for future dry landings.
The test of the Starship spacecraft was far more impressive.
This ship was a pared-down and earlier model than the one flown last month. With many of its heat-shielding tiles rearranged or deliberately removed it was configured to test the vessel's robustness during re-entry according to SpaceX.
It survived, and performed an almost perfect "landing" in the waters of the Indian Ocean.
We're getting used to this now from SpaceX. Repeated successes in a bold programme of developing a very large, reusable and therefore lower cost, rocket.
In return for helping him get elected Elon Musk can probably rely on Donald Trump's support in that and his other business endeavours.
But how much further will their partnership go? How committed will Mr Musk be to his promised new role in Mr Trump's White House?
For now, still unknown and untested.