The grief of a fandom: on Starship, Musk and losing the spark
SpaceX recently launched its 10th Starship flight from Starbase in South Texas. This proved to be the most successful Starship flight yet, with the vehicle making a (mostly) intact water landing. Starship is the most powerful heavy-lift launch vehicle ever built and it’s making some progress amid numerous high-profile failures and one test stand explosion this year.
“We cannot ignore [Elon, SpaceX’s CEO] Musk. He’s trying to be all cute on Twitter with his ‘I’m a scientist again!’ cosplay.” (Emily Carney)
Musk’s damage to United States space policy is likely to be long-lasting and permanent. While Musk was heading DOGE, the Trump administration proposed slashing NASA’s budget by 25%, ending many missions and programs including the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, ironically championed in Trump’s first term as he promoted a U.S. return to the moon.
Emily Carney / Space News