Americans love a good rocket. Probably hard not to when they’re right there in the first verse of The Star-Spangled Banner: “And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ...”
Of course, that the rockets in question were being fired by the hated British on the US defenders of Fort McHenry in the war of 1812 doesn’t matter — it’s the wonderful thrusting energy that counts.
Donald Trump appears to love them too. Remember when he called North Korean boss Kim Jong Un a rocket man?
Back in 2017, when North Korea was testing heavy missiles in a bout of modern sabre-rattling, the 45th president told the UN that “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself”.
The barb apparently delighted Elton John, writer of the original Rocket Man (John recently told The Guardian he found Trump’s nickname for Kim “hilarious”).
Trump and Kim apparently later exchanged “beautiful letters” and then, as Trump told a rally, “fell in love, OK?”
So the easily suggestible among us might see a portent in the latest adventure as Elon Musk’s SpaceX makes its many critics heads’ spin by successfully returning its huge Super Heavy booster rocket to its own launch pad.
The booster came back to Earth, easing gently back into the enfolding steel arms of the launch tower shortly after propelling the Starship module into a high, sweet parabola into the far-off Indian Ocean.
It almost diverts the world’s attention from the fact that Musk has endorsed Trump for president and boosted his campaign with lots of cash.
Many Americans would, no doubt, like Trump to be the first man to be sent to Mars. Then again, maybe all the strongmen — Trump, Kim, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, Viktor Orban — could fly off together in one big, happy, crowdfunded space rocket to the edge of the universe. Who’s in?
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