Nicki Minaj's latest MAGA-era cameo collided with aerospace reality on Thursday, when the rapper appeared at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas, only for Elon Musk's much-hyped Starship V3 launch to be called off minutes before lift-off.
The event had been billed as another dramatic step in SpaceX's Starship campaign, a programme that has already seen 11 integrated flight tests, at least seven of which ended in explosions, loss of vehicle, uncontrolled re-entry or other mission-ending failures.
Against that backdrop, SpaceX tried to inject some pop gloss intothe proceedings, drafting in Minaj as a star guest and leaning into her 2012 hit 'Starships'as a marketing hook.
On X, the platform Musk owns, the company posted: 'Starships are meant to fly,' a wink at Minaj's chart-topping single, just before the uncrewed launch of the massive Starship V3 was abandoned.
Welcome to Starbase,@NICKIMINAJ!pic.twitter.com/QhNc3otoXF
OMG, Nicki Minaj is at Starbase for the Starship V3 launch 😂Nicki: "Major shoutout to Elon. Thank you for everything you're doing for humanity.”pic.twitter.com/CMMciXaAIC
The timing was unforgiving. Instead of images of the world's most powerful rocket soaring into the atmosphere, viewers were left watching a scrubbed countdown and a stranded celebrity endorsement.
Musk later told followers the attempt had been halted because of 'a malfunctioning hydraulic pin' on part of the launch tower. 'If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT,' he posted, promising a rapid do-over.
Nothing in those assurances changes the fact that Thursday's outing, in purely visual political terms, looked like a flop.
The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT.https://t.co/DJAdvDYQpH
Source: International Business Times UK
