For many rocketry enthusiasts, watching SpaceX launches was an exciting hobby — one that they’d travel down to the very bottom of Texas to witness in person at the Starbase launch facility off the Gulf of Mexico.
But with CEO Elon Musk now fully entrenched in bigoted right-wing politics, that joy has turned to grief for former fans, who now lament the loss of their once-joyful pastime.
However, at the 10th Starship launch from at the end of August — SpaceX’s “most successful” test flight of the heavy-lift vehicle yet, which should have been an exciting feat to witness — Carney recounted feeling dejected instead of elated.
“Science, NASA, and the space program will succeed and continue in spite of him.
It’s not hard to see why those onetime SpaceX-watchers feel so crestfallen, given that Musk’s horrendous politics quite literally have a death toll.
At the Starbase launch facility off the Gulf of Mexico, many rocketry enthusiasts would travel all the way to the bottom of Texas to witness SpaceX launches in person because it was an exciting pastime.
Former fans now mourn the loss of their once-enjoyable hobby as CEO Elon Musk has become firmly rooted in racist right-wing politics.
According to space historian and author Emily Carney, “Most of the time, watching a rocket launch as an adult fills me with the same feelings I had when I saw my first as a kid — fear, glee, wonder, and excitement — as a spaceship makes its way into a largely foreign environment,” Emily wrote for SpaceNews. “Really, it never grows old. “,”.
But instead of feeling thrilled, Carney recalled feeling saddened at the 10th Starship launch at the end of August, which was SpaceX’s “most successful” test flight of the heavy-lift vehicle to date.
When she wrote, “I should be happy, right? Yeah, um, no,”. “Despite having a lifelong interest in space, I was unable to muster the enthusiasm to watch the launch and mission take place. “..”.
The historian turned to Threads, Instagram’s version of Twitter, and discovered she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Carney wrote on social media, “It’s very sad how SpaceX probably had its biggest success tonight with Starship and I, a space freak for nearly 44 years, couldn’t be bothered to watchit.”.
“This is how I feel,” said another user. After seeing Apollo when I was five years old, I became obsessed with space. Space Mad. Even after reading every book I could, building my own rockets, naming a child after a cosmonaut, and crying the entire time at Kennedy Space Center, I still feel nothing. “..”.
“A lot of good, heartfelt effort and dedication have gone into the Starship program long before Musk became whatever the pure awfulness he is today,” another Threads user wrote. “I’m trying to take comfort in that.”. “Despite him, NASA, science, and the space program will continue to advance and thrive. For many, however, he has tarnished this and ruined a lot of the happiness. “,”.
With Musk’s terrible politics literally having a death toll, it’s easy to understand why those former SpaceX viewers are so devastated. A new study published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet estimates that 360,000 people have already perished from malnutrition and lack of medication as a result of the billionaire’s drastic cuts to grants for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) during his tenure in Donald Trump’s White House. If those cuts are formalized and extended through 2030, an additional 14 million lives could be lost.
There are many more reasons for people like Carney, whose book “Star Bound,” co-written with space scion Bruce McCandless III, chronicles the history of NASA’s spaceflight program, to be sad, even though the USAID cuts alone are enough to make any ardent SpaceX supporter turn their back on the Musk-owned company.
She wrote of Musk’s notorious Sieg Heil at Trump’s inauguration: “When asked by some why I felt a lack of interest in [the latest launch of] Starship, I pointed out Musk’s January gesture, which to me could not be mistaken as anything other than what it appeared to be: a Nazi salute.”. “I witnessed this with my own eyes. “,”.
Carney wrote that Musk “never had to enter himself into US politics and space policy,” instead choosing to join that battle and cause irreversible harm to NASA and the US space program. Musk’s racist, anti-Semitic, and “white genocide” outbursts are just one example of his traits.
That hurts former SpaceX fans.
“When the thing you most enjoyed is now associated with other things that are irretrievably dark,” she wrote, “a considerable part of the space fandom is experiencing a specific kind of grief.”. “..”.
