Trump and Elon Musk bring American swagger, joyous awe back to space travel
At his Madison Square Garden event a week before the election, Donald Trump went on an extended riff about the famous “chopstick” maneuver of Elon Musk’s Space X.In describing his slack-jawed amazement at watching the feat — the first stage of a Starship rocket returning to the launch tower upon coming back to Earth — Trump spoke for all us.The various videos of the operation that witnesses have posted online never get old.It’s not just the technical achievement — the joyous awe of spectators is itself wonderful to behold.The other day, President-elect Trump took time off from forming his new administration to travel to South Texas with Musk to observe another test launch of Starship, and why not?Rockets are an enduring object of human fascination, and Space X is bringing an appropriate sense of brio to one of mankind’s coolest ventures.Modern rocketry is the product of a couple of centuries of human thought and ingenuity, from the 13th century when the Chinese used “arrows of flying fire” to fight the Mongols, to Newton’s 16th-century work on the laws of motion, to the experiments of Robert Goddard early in the 20th century, to the advances driven by World War II and the Cold War.A rocket launch is literally spectacular.It is a feast for the eyes and an assault on the ears, as a tall, thin projectile is, after a controlled explosion, propelled upwards on a raging plume of fire.The iconic 1969 launch of Apollo 11 on the sleek, instantly recognizable Saturn V rocket emblazoned with the words “United States” in red lettering remains a thing of beauty, and a symbol of 20th-century technological achievement.A rocket is otherworldly in more than one sense.A car can be analogized to horse.
A plane can be analogized to a bird.A rocket is like nothing in nature.And it promises to take us to worlds beyond our own, whether outer space, or the moon — or, if Musk can achieve his ambitions, Mars.There is an inherent risk to the enterprise, making it...