McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — President-elect Donald Trump is on his way to Texas to watch a launch of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft planned for Tuesday afternoon on the South Texas border.
Around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Trump’s plane left Florida for Brownsville, Texas.
SpaceX has a liftoff window beginning at 4 p.m. CST from its Starbase launch facility near Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
SpaceX is owned by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who was pivotal to Trump’s recent successful reelection campaign.
Musk last week was tapped by Trump to co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump says the agency will advise the White House on ways to reduce spending, cut regulations and “create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”
DOGE, however, isn’t an official government agency, and would have to be created by Congress. But it is expected to be an advisory commission.
Jim Chapman, of Save RGV, which has filed lawsuits to stop SpaceX from dumping waste into South Texas waterways, says he finds it ironic that Musk has been tapped to lead a department that ultimately will oversee the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the space industry, including SpaceX.
A SpaceX spacecraft is seen on the launchpad Nov. 1, 2023, from nearby Boca Chica Beach, Texas, which is home to endangered sea turtles. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)
Tuesday’s planned launch is the sixth attempt by the company to test its nearly 400-foot-tall Starship spacecraft.
Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns, on Tuesday that the liftoff thrust will be 7,500 tons.
SpaceX has warned the border community that residents should expect to hear loud sounds as the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines ignite, and as the spacecraft attempts to return to the launch site and a tower catches it on the pad about eight minutes later.
“Residents of Cameron County and those in the nearby area may hear one or more sonic booms during the return to launch site,” SpaceX told media.
A sonic boom was heard over 60 miles away in McAllen after SpaceX’s fifth test flight in October of the Starship, with its first successful tower catch re-entry.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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