The Biden Presidency starts with a bang

[Suff]

In the Space arena.

SpaceX, launched their Starship Serial Number 8, for a test 12.5km hop followed by a landing this month. It was openly publicised that the rocket may fail, that they may have to blow it up, that it was 2/3 likely to not succeed. In the end, it made the entire tip and, at the very end, landed at about 60mph instead of 0 mph, disintegrating and burning all the remaining fuel in the process.

It landed within a few feet of the projected target and had almost no fuel on board when it blew. In fact it was no more destructive than certain other ground based failures which have happened.

So the upshot is that the Space agency has refused SpaceX the license to launch their next iteration. SN9. It is sitting there waiting, was ready to go on Friday.

Not only is the license to launch not approved, they are being investigated for breaching their license with the SN8 launch.

If this is the new face of the Biden presidency, I can see the US getting a rough ride from SpaceX. Musk ripped the Tesla HQ out of California because one public health official refused Tesla the right to open their factory when the Governor had opened up the ability to resume production. Knowing how Musk reacts, their factory in California is toast in the next decade. He won't put anything into it and, eventually, it will be superseded by another, better, factory elsewhere.

So doing this to Musk with SpaceX is not a good move for US Space innovation. Already SpaceX dominates the launch capability of the world, outperforming every country in the world and making Nasa look like amateurs. Will Musk take this lying down? Not a chance! He's by far the biggest shareholder and it is still a private company as IPO has not gone through.