Topline

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to attend the final launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket on Tuesday, multiple media outlets reported, in a show of support for billionaire and confidante Elon Musk, who has moved closer to becoming the next president since he took over 100 million dollars in the US. his re-election campaign.

Key facts

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Crucial quote

“And I called Elon. I said, ‘Elon, was that you?’ He said, ‘Yes, that was it.’ I said, ‘Who else can do that?’ Can China do it?’ “No,” Trump said, telling a story about watching Starship’s fifth test flight. “Can the United States do it, except you?” ‘No, no one can.’ I said, ‘That’s why I love you, Elon, that’s great.'”

Important background

The Starship system is considered crucial to SpaceX’s goal of eventually bringing humans to Mars for the first time, and NASA is counting on it as part of its Artemis program to get humans back on the moon. SpaceX was awarded NASA’s first Human Landing Services contract in 2021, and Starship was chosen as the lunar lander for Artemis 3, the mission that will put NASA astronauts on the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo missions in 1972. Artemis 3 is currently scheduled for launch next fall.

Big number

$4.4 billion. That’s the amount the federal government has pledged to SpaceX to pay for spaceship missions to the moon, according to The New York Times.

Tangent

Trump and Musk, the world’s richest person, have grown closer since last year, when they reportedly met to discuss a possible acquisition of Trump’s Truth Social platform. Musk endorsed Trump for president after an assassination attempt on the politician in July, and that same month he started the pro-Trump America PAC, which spent an estimated $200 million supporting the Republican in the presidential race. Most of that money came directly from Musk. Musk watched election night results come in from Mar-a-Lago in Florida with Trump, who praised him heavily in his victory speech: “We have a new star. A star is born, Elon… He’s a great guy.” Trump said. Since the elections, the two seem inseparable. Trump has appointed billionaires Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, his former main opponent, to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has reportedly attended frequent meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, traveled with him to a House GOP conference in Washington DC, sat ringside with Trump at the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match in New York on Friday and appeared in a now-viral photo aboard Trump’s private plane with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Donald Trump Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Forbes rating

Musk, who founded Tesla, SpaceX and other companies, is ranked as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $313.9 billion as of Tuesday, about $50 billion more than he was worth before Trump won the election. Trump has an estimated net worth of $5.9 billion as of Wednesday thanks to his stakes in Truth Social’s parent company, the Trump Media and Technology Group, his real estate investments and other assets.

Read more

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