Elon Musk Tags Ye, Nicki Minaj On SpaceX Update: Next Starship Launch In 3 Weeks, But Advises More Patience 'Before Hopping On'

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday told rapper Kanye West that the rocket manufacturing company will launch its Starship launch vehicle for the third time in about three weeks.

What Happened: “Starship were meant to fly and our next one launches in about 3 weeks, but I recommend waiting for a few more test flights before hopping on board,” Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Musk also tagged rapper Nicki Minaj in his post, referring to the star’s 2012 song titled “Starships.”

Musk was responding to the lines of West’s song “Carnival” from his new album called “Vultures 1.” In the song, West makes a reference to Musk, rapping, “This that Game of Thrones, Yeezy, not the clones / Elon, where my rocket ship? It’s time to go home.” 

Starship Launches: SpaceX over the weekend shared pictures of a Starship launch vehicle on the launch pad at Starbase in Texas. The post raised enthusiasm for an upcoming flight test after the previous two failed to achieve their goals.

During Starship's first flight in April,  the rocket exploded in less than four minutes after take-off. The second liftoff on Nov. 18 saw successful stage separation, but the booster experienced an explosion shortly afterward. The spacecraft lost contact with SpaceX after reaching an altitude of nearly 150 kilometers, failing to complete the test launch's goal of a round-trip flight to space with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. 

Why It Matters: SpaceX's Starship is touted to be the world's most powerful launch vehicle, capable of carrying up to 250 metric tonnes. It is fully reusable, powered by methane-oxygen staged combustion engines, and capable of carrying up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights. The vehicle is expected to carry humans back to the Moon in the near future and Mars later.

Last week, Musk said that Starship should be able to make it to the moon in less than 5 years. The vehicle will get to Mars by 2033 according to the CEO's latest estimate.

Created with artificial intelligence on MidJourney and Official SpaceX Photos on Flickr

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