Trump Departs For Texas Watch SpaceX Rocket Launch

ILLUSTRATION/Launch of Falcon 9 rockets carrying Optus-X (photo: X @SpaceX)

JAKARTA - President-elect of the United States (US) Donald Trump left for Texas to attend the launch of the SpaceX rocket in person. This is a sign of his closeness to the founder billionaire and CEO of Elon Musk's company.

As reported by Reuters on Tuesday, November 19, sources familiar with the trip confirmed Trump's plans after the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday issued temporary flight restrictions for the VIP movement' in Brownsville, Texas, a practice usually made before an important visit.

Restrictions on flights imposed on Trump's beachfront property in Palm Beach, Florida, will be temporarily lifted over the same period.

Trump's transition team did not respond to a request for comment on the elected president's plans.

A close friendship exists between Trump and Musk, CEO of Tesla as well as the richest person in the world, who founded SpaceX in 2002.

Elon Musk has emerged as Trump's close adviser and has long been in his company. Mar-a-Lago club at Palm Beach.

The launch will be SpaceX's sixth test flight into space for Starship, the company's next-generation rocket system at its core to Musk to send humans and cargo to Mars.

NASA plans to use Starship to land humans on the moon this decade under the Artemis program, an effort that is expected to further involve Mars missions and support the cosmic plans of SpaceX and Musk under Trump's rule.

Using a large weapon mounted on the launch tower, SpaceX will again try to capture the Starship's first phase of the "Super Heavy" booster as high as 233 feet (71 meters) about 10 minutes after takeoff, a new reuse technique that makes Trump curious when SpaceX first tried it in October.