WASHINGTON –
For two weeks, Donald Trump has welcomed Elon Musk into his world. On Tuesday, it was Musk’s turn to play host to the president-elect.
Trump flew to South Texas to watch as Musk’s SpaceX launched a Starship rocket near the Mexican border. Trump listened intently as the world’s richest man explained how the test would work and demonstrated with a model. And then Trump squinted into the bright sky to watch liftoff.
It didn’t go perfectly — the reusable booster did not return to the launch pad as it had done on a previous test last month. Instead, the booster was directed to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
But Trump’s presence at the launch was a remarkable display of intimacy between the two men, one with implications for American politics, the government, foreign policy and even the possibility of humans reaching Mars.
Musk spent around US$200 million to …