SpaceX’s Starship was meant to fly, and Nicki Minaj had a front row seat.
The launch, which was testing a new version of SpaceX’s most powerful rocket, was scrubbed on Thursday due to technical issues.
“The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X.
“Starships” singer Minaj made a surprise appearance at the company’s Starbase Texas launch site wearing a SpaceX Starship T-shirt.
“Major shout-out to Elon,” Minaj said on the SpaceX livestream during the countdown. “Elon, thank you for everything that you’re doing for humanity.”
She added: “This is historic. This is a major moment, y’all.”
SpaceX was aiming to test Starship V3 for the first time, which has been redesigned to carry larger payloads — eventually, to the moon.
Ultimately, Minaj wasn’t able to witness what she said would be her first live rocket launch. Whether it’s SpaceX, NASA, or Blue Origin, rocket launches are often canceled at the last minute due to adverse weather or technical problems.
However, the company will try to do it one more time. Musk said there would be another launch attempt on Friday evening if the tower arm could be fixed.
They need rappers like me
It may have been Minaj’s first time at a SpaceX rocket launch, but neither she nor Musk is a stranger to the sphere of President Donald Trump.
The rap star has been increasingly supportive of the president and other conservative leaders.
In January, Minaj said she was Trump’s “number one fan” onstage alongside the president.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Minaj’s SpaceX visit also follows in the footsteps of Trump, who has attended at least two rocket launches for Musk’s company in recent years. Musk supported Trump’s second presidential campaign, including through donations, and later co-led the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk has had a busy week. On Monday, he lost his blockbuster lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
On Wednesday, SpaceX filed its IPO prospectus publicly. Minaj made “Starships” a chart-topper, and now Musk is aiming to make the Starship-maker a record-breaker: It’s expected to be the largest IPO in history, with a valuation potentially reaching $2 trillion.
