But the Republican leader was deprived of the chance to see the descending first stage caught in the launch tower's "chopstick" arms, an engineering marvel demonstrated by the company last month and one he personally lauded during his election victory speech.

Instead, the massive Super Heavy booster made a more subdued splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Company representatives cited unmet technical criteria, dampening the triumph of an event attended by an array of Trump-world figures.

Space X founder and CEO Musk has been a constant presence at Trump's side since the incoming president's election victory, joining him at a meeting with Argentina's President Javier Milei and even at a UFC bout.

Trump's decision to travel to Musk's home turf was the latest sign of the burgeoning bond between the billionaire duo, which has raised questions over possible conflicts of interests given SpaceX's lucrative contracts with NASA and the Pentagon.

Flying in from his Mar-a-Lago home, Trump greeted Musk warmly on Tuesday afternoon, sporting a red MAGA hat as the pair headed off to watch from the control tower of the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, where Starship blasted off at 4:00 pm (2200 GMT).

Tuesday's launch marked the quickest turnaround between test flights for the world's most powerful rocket, a gleaming, 400-foot-tall (121-meter) stainless steel colossus central to Musk's ambition of colonising Mars and making humanity a multiplanetary species.

Musk aims to launch the first uncrewed missions to the Red Planet as early as 2026, coinciding with the next "Mars transfer window" -- a period when the journey between Earth and Mars is at its shortest.

NASA is also counting on a specialised version of Starship to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade under its Artemis program.

AzVision.az

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