AFP USA

Billionaire Elon Musk has criticized Donald Trump’s signature spending bill, in his first major break with the US president since he stepped back from his role taking a chainsaw to government spending.The South African-born tech tycoon said Trump’s bill would increase the deficit and undermine the work of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has fired tens of thousands of people.Musk — who was a constant presence at Trump’s side before pulling back to focus on his Space X and Tesla businesses — also complained that DOGE had become a “whipping boy” for dissatisfaction with the administration.”I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said in an interview with CBS News, an excerpt of which aired late Tuesday.Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” — which passed the US House last week and now moves to the Senate — offers sprawling tax relief and spending cuts and is the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.But critics warn it will decimate health care and balloon the national deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade.”A bill can be big, or it can be beautiful. But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion,” Musk said in the interview, which will be aired in full on Sunday.The White House sought to play down any differences over US government spending, without directly naming Musk.”The Big Beautiful Bill is NOT an annual budget bill,” Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said on Musk’s social network, X, after the tech titan’s comments aired.All DOGE cuts would have to be carried out through a separate bill targeting the federal bureaucracy, according to US Senate rules, Miller added.But Musk’s comments represented a rare split with the Republican president whom he helped propel back to power, as the largest donor to his 2024 election campaign.- ‘Whipping boy’ -Trump tasked Musk with cutting government spending as head of DOGE, but after a feverish start Musk announced in late April he was mostly stepping back to run his companies again.Musk complained in a separate interview with the Washington Post that DOGE, which operated out of the White House with a staff of young technicians, had become a lightning rod for criticism.”DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,” Musk told the newspaper at the Starbase launch site in Texas ahead of Space X’s latest launch on Tuesday.”Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it.”Musk blamed entrenched US bureaucracy for DOGE’s failure to achieve all of its goals — although reports say his domineering style and lack of familiarity with the currents of Washington politics were also major factors.”The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” he said. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”Musk has previously admitted that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several departments were gutted or shut down.Musk’s own businesses suffered in the meantime.Protesters against the cost-cutting targeted Tesla dealerships while arsonists even torched a few of the electric vehicles, and the firm’s profits slumped.”People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool,” Musk told the Post.Musk has also been focusing on Space X after a series of fiery setbacks to his dreams of colonizing Mars — the latest of which came on Tuesday when its prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean.The tycoon last week also said he would pull back from spending his fortune on politics, having spent around a quarter of a billion dollars to support Trump.

Telegram established a partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI to provide the Grok generative artificial intelligence program on the messaging service for one year, Telegram’s CEO announced Wednesday.In exchange for implementing Grok across its platforms, Telegram will receive $300 million in cash and equity, plus 50 percent of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram, Telegram’s chief Pavel Durov announced on X, the former Twitter.Grok will be accessible on Telegram this summer, Durov said.The terms of the deal may appear unbalanced, but the transaction allows xAI, which in late March acquired Musk’s X platform, to have access to Telegram’s customers, which Durov estimated has more than one billion users.Generative AI businesses have been aiming to grow their user base in order to recover revenues after huge investments in the state-of-the-art technology.xAI in February released the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, which the billionaire hopes will find traction in a highly competitive sector contested by the likes of ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek.Grok 3 is also going up against OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT — pitting Musk against collaborator-turned-arch rival Sam Altman.Grok is accessible on the X platform, but with limitations on non-paying users. The premium service costs $40 per month, or $395 per year.Durov has faced judicial action in France after clashing with French authorities over illegal content on his popular messaging service, including claims that France interfered in Romanian elections.Earlier this month, French authorities denied a request for Durov, who holds French and Russian passports, to travel to the United States for talks with investment funds.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has stepped back from his role of slashing US government spending by firing tens of thousands of people, has criticized President Donald Trump’s signature spending bill.The “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” — which passed in the House of Representatives and now moves to the Senate — would usher into law Trump’s vision for a new “Golden Age,” led by efforts to shrink social safety net programs to pay for a 10-year extension of his 2017 tax cuts. But critics say it will decimate health care for the poorest Americans and cause the national debt to balloon.”I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said in an interview with CBS News. An excerpt was aired Tuesday evening with comments that put him at odds with Trump, who tasked Musk with cutting government spending as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.The spending bill is the centerpiece of Trump’s domestic policy agenda and could define his second term in the White House.Independent analysts have warned it would increase the deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade.”I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk told CBS News, “but I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.” The full interview will be aired Sunday.In a separate interview with the Washington Post, Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, looked back on his work leading the reforms, in which many civil servants lost their jobs with little or no warning.”The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” he said. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”Musk announced in late April he was stepping back from government to run his companies again.He said in May that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several government departments were gutted or shut down altogether.Musk told the Post he would keep working with DOGE but focus on upgrading federal government computer systems rather than firing more people.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah repeated calls Wednesday for Germany to pay reparations for its genocide against Namibian tribes as she led the first official commemoration of the atrocity more than 120 years ago.Thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people were massacred by colonial-era German troops between 1904 and 1908 after they rebelled against their rule in what is regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century. “We should find a degree of comfort in the fact that the German government has agreed that the German troops committed a genocide against the… people of our land,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said at the ceremony held in the gardens of parliament.Berlin has offered an apology but there is still no agreement on reparations in talks that began with the German government in 2013, she said.”We must remain committed that as a nation, we shall soldier on until the ultimate conclusion is reached,” she said.Germany has pledged more than one billion euros ($1 billion) in development aid over 30 years to benefit the descendants of the two tribes, stressing this could not be considered as payment of reparations. Namibia has rejected the offer.The commemoration was attended by around 1,000 people including the German ambassador, Thorsten Hutter. Candles were lit in honour of the victims and a minute of silence was followed by song and speeches.”It is a stark reminder of the pain and suffering that was inflicted by German imperial troops during the colonial era,” Hutter said.”I believe that it is important to understand that we cannot change the past, but as the people who are living today, it is our responsibility to remember those atrocities that were committed,” he said.After lengthy and sometimes acrimonious negotiations, Germany in 2021 recognised the killings by its settlers constituted a genocide. An estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed. Some were beheaded and their skulls handed to researchers in Berlin for since-discredited “scientific” experiments framed to prove the racial superiority of whites over blacks.Germany returned the skulls and other human remains to Namibia in 2011 and 2018. May 28 was chosen for the annual Genocide Remembrance Day commemoration as it was the day in 1907 when German authorities ordered the closure of concentration camps following international criticism over the brutal conditions and high death rates.It has been declared a public holiday in Namibia, a sparsely populated and largely desert nation of nearly three million people.

The US State Department has ordered the suspension of student visa processing in the latest escalation of a Trump administration crackdown on foreign students criticized Wednesday by China.President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking unprecedented control over leading US universities, including revoking foreign student visas and deporting some of those involved in protests against the war in Gaza.A cable signed Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa… appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”The government plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration has moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans.China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday said Beijing urged Washington to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China.”Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend US universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour.The sweeping US measures have resulted in foreign governments moving to snap up affected students, with Japan and Hong Kong urging local universities to take in more international applicants.In Taiwan, a PhD student set to study at the University of California told AFP they were left “feeling uncertain” by the visa pause.”I understand the process may be delayed but there is still some time before the semester begins in mid-August,” said the 27-year-old student who did not want to be identified.”All I can do now is wait and hope for the best.”- Protests at Harvard -The suspension of visa processing came as Harvard students protested on Tuesday after the government said it intended to cancel all remaining financial contracts, Trump’s latest attempt to force the institution to submit to unprecedented oversight.Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting his administration’s push for oversight on admissions and hiring, amid the president’s claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for Thursday, the same day as the university’s graduation ceremony for which thousands of students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.The White House, meanwhile, doubled down in its offensive, saying that public money should go to vocational schools that train electricians and plumbers. “The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday.Some Harvard students were worried that the Trump administration’s policies would make US universities less attractive to international students.”I don’t know if I’d pursue a PhD here. Six years is a long time,” said Jack, a history of medicine student from Britain who is graduating this week and gave one name.Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump’s measures.Alumni plan to file a legal brief against Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group.The group is gathering thousands of signatures to show the courts the depth of support for the existing legal action. The Trump administration is also piling financial pressure on Harvard.It has announced the cutting of Harvard’s government contracts, estimated by US media to be worth $100 million.In the last few weeks, the elite educational and research powerhouse has already seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up.The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 percent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding.On Monday, Trump vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle with Harvard, claiming that foreign students there include “radicalized lunatics, troublemakers.”

The billionaire chief of Georgia’s ruling party — widely seen as the Caucasus country’s most powerful figure — has refused to meet the US ambassador, the American embassy said Wednesday.The diplomatic snub comes as ties between Washington and Tbilisi have sunk to their lowest level in years, with the United States repeatedly condemning Georgia for democratic backsliding, its violent crackdown on protestors and its move to suspend talks on joining the European Union.Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s richest person and key power broker, is among those hit with US sanctions and visa restrictions put in place under ex-president Joe Biden.”Bidzina Ivanishvili has refused to meet with Ambassador (Robin) Dunnigan to hear a message from the Trump Administration,” the US embassy said in a statement.Officials from Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party have dismissed Washington’s sanctions pressure as blackmail.The embassy said the meeting had been requested by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, so the US envoy could “again relay specific steps the Georgian government can take to show it is serious about resetting its relationship with the United States”.”It is our hope that the Georgian government sincerely wishes to return to 33 years of partnership and friendship with America and the American people,” it added.Dunnigan, a career diplomat, was appointed by Biden but has continued as ambassador to Georgia under Trump.Critics accuse the Georgian Dream party of moving Tbilisi away from the West and closer to Russia, with whom Georgia fought a brief war in 2008.Ivanishvili said it was “inappropriate” for him to meet with the US ambassador due to sanctions against him, and said the ambassador had refused to meet Georgia’s prime minister.”Against the backdrop of such personal blackmail, I believe it would be inappropriate for me to meet with the ambassador and discuss matters of state,” the billionaire said.Prime Minister Kobakhidze on Tuesday accused Washington of being controlled by the “deep state”, echoing language frequently employed by President Donald Trump.”We want relations with a United States that is free from the deep state — a relationship with an independent, sovereign country — and that is what we are waiting for,” Kobakhidze said.Georgia has been rocked by protests since Georgian Dream shelved talks on joining the European Union shortly after disputed parliamentary elections last October.

Auto giant Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep, Peugeot and Fiat, on Wednesday named company veteran Antonio Filosa as its new chief executive officer as the US-European group navigates US tariffs and slumping North American sales.The Italian manager, who has led Stellantis in North and South America, will succeed Carlos Tavares, who was sacked in December.Filosa, who joined Fiat in 1999, recalled that his first job was as a paint shop quality supervisor at a plant in Spain, where he worked the night shift.”This company is in my blood and I couldn’t be more proud of the chance to work with all of you,” Filosa said in a letter to employees seen by AFP.Filosa, 51, was unanimously selected by the board following a “thorough search process of internal and external candidates”, Stellantis said in a statement.Stellantis said it would call an extraordinary shareholder meeting in the coming days to elect Filosa to the board to serve as an executive director of the company.”Meanwhile, to give him full authority and ensure an efficient transition, the Board has granted him CEO powers effective June 23,” the statement said.”The Board selected Antonio Filosa to be CEO based on his proven track record of hands-on success during his more than 25 years in the automotive industry,” Stellantis said.The company also praised “the depth and span of his experience around the world, his unrivalled knowledge of the Company and his recognised leadership qualities”.Stellantis shares were flat at around midday following the announcement.- Tavares: good times, bad times -Stellantis, whose other brands include Ram trucks, Dodge, Chrysler and Maserati, has struggled with falling sales in its key North American market.US President Donald Trump’s 25-percent tariffs on the car industry have added to the company’s woes.Last month, Stellantis dropped its annual financial guidance due to uncertainty over the levies.Filosa, who has previously served as chief executive of the Jeep brand, was promoted to the role of chief operating officer for the Americas region in December.”Since his appointment, he has initiated the strengthening of the US operations,” Stellantis said, noting that he “significantly” reduced excessive inventories at dealerships and reorganised the leadership team.Filosa was also named to the new role of chief quality officer earlier this year.Tavares engineered one of the most ambitious mergers in automotive history in 2021, when more than a dozen brands were put under the same roof.The Portuguese executive, who headed French group Peugeot-Citroen at the time, was appointed chief executive of the newly created French-Italian-American behemoth Stellantis.His three-year tenure was marked by high profit margins that were the envy of its rivals in the auto industry but the good times ended last year as sales plummeted in the United States.When his abrupt resignation was announced in December, Stellantis pointed out that “different views” had emerged between the board and Tavares.In February, the group shifted focus to the quality of its vehicles, unravelling the legacy left by CEO Carlos Tavares, a staunch advocate of cost-cutting.After the first few years marked by record profits, the disappointing quality of certain models and prices that were too high compared to the competition contributed to the collapse of the group’s sales in the United States in 2024.In France, the CFE-CGC union said it expects Filosa to “break with the authoritarian, cost-cutting management style of the Tavares era”.The Peugeot family, the second-biggest shareholder in Stellantis, issued a statement hailing Filosa’s “in-depth knowledge of the realities on the ground and close understanding of the industrial culture” in the group.

US President Donald Trump warned Vladimir Putin Tuesday that he was “playing with fire,” taking a fresh jab at his Russian counterpart as Washington weighs new sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war.Trump’s latest broadside showed his frustration with stalled ceasefire talks and comes two days after he called the Kremlin leader “absolutely CRAZY” following a major drone attack on Ukraine.Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, insisted it was responding to escalating Ukrainian strikes on its own civilians and accused Kyiv of trying to “disrupt” peace efforts.Diplomatic efforts to end the war have intensified in recent weeks, but Putin has been accused of stalling peace talks.”What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Trump said on his Truth Social network.Trump did not specify what the “really bad” things were.But the Wall Street Journal and CNN both reported that the Republican was now considering fresh sanctions as early as this week.Trump told reporters on Sunday he was “absolutely” weighing such a move.- ‘Provocative’ -The White House said Trump was keeping “all options” open.”This war is Joe Biden’s fault, and President Trump has been clear he wants to see a negotiated peace deal. President Trump has also smartly kept all options on the table,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP in a statement.Biden, Trump’s Democratic predecessor, imposed sweeping sanctions after Russia’s invasion. Trump has so far avoided what he says could be “devastating” sanctions on Russian banks.But Trump’s recent rebukes mark a sharp change from his previous attitude towards Putin, of whom he often speaks with admiration.His frustration at his failure to end a war he said he could solve within 24 hours boiled over at the weekend after Russia’s drone barrage killed at least 13 people.”I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Trump posted.Russia has kept up attacks despite a phone call eight days ago in which Trump said Putin had agreed to immediately start talks.Moscow did not react to Trump’s comments on Tuesday, but it earlier sought to blame Ukraine for the impasse.”Kyiv, with the support of some European countries, has taken a series of provocative steps to thwart negotiations initiated by Russia,” the Russian defense ministry said.Civilians including women and children were injured in what it said were Ukrainian drone strikes. Russian air defenses destroyed 2,331 Ukrainian drones between May 20 and 27, it said.Fresh drone attacks were also reported overnight to Wednesday.Russian authorities said almost 150 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted, including 33 heading toward Moscow.- ‘Eternal waiting’ -Ukraine said it was Russia that had targeted civilians.”We need to end this eternal waiting — Russia needs more sanctions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Tuesday on Telegram.US lawmakers have stepped up calls for Trump to slap sanctions on Russia.Veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called for strong measures to let Putin know it was “game over.”Two other senators, Republican Lindsay Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, also called for heavy “secondary” sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and raw materials.Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News that the next peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, if they happen, would likely take place in Geneva after Moscow rejected the Vatican as a venue.The aim would then be to get Trump, Putin and Zelensky together “and hammer this thing out,” he added.The Swiss government would not confirm that it would host the talks.”Switzerland remains ready to offer its good offices,” the foreign ministry told AFP in a statement, adding that it was “in contact with all parties.”Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in more than three years in Istanbul in early May.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered a suspension of student visa processing in the latest swipe at foreign students in the country.The White House is cracking down on foreign students at US universities, revoking visas and deporting those involved in protests against the war in Gaza, accusing them of supporting Palestinian militant group Hamas.Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and President Donald Trump’s administration moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans.A cable signed by Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa… appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”The government also plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.The move came as Harvard students protested after the government said it intends to cancel all remaining financial contracts with the elite school, Trump’s latest attempt to force the institution to submit to unprecedented oversight.Hundreds of students gathered to oppose Trump’s widening offensive, including Tuesday’s measures estimated to be worth $100 million, against the university that has drawn his ire for refusing to give up control of curriculum, admissions and research.”Trump = traitor” read one student placard, while the crowd chanted “who belongs in class today, let them stay” in reference to Harvard’s international students whose status Trump has upended by summarily revoking the university’s accreditation to the country’s Student and Exchange Visitor program.A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for Thursday, the same day as the university’s commencement graduation ceremony for which thousands of graduating students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.The White House meanwhile, doubled down in its offensive, saying that public money should go to vocational schools that train electricians and plumbers. “The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,” Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday evening. “We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.”Tuesday’s protest unfolded as news helicopters hovered overhead and graduating students in academic attire and their guests ate finger food at a reception on the lawns of Harvard Square nearby.”All my international friends and peers and professors and researchers are at risk and (are) threatened with being deported — or their option is to transfer” to another university, said Alice Goyer, who attended the protest wearing a black academic gown.One history of medicine student from Britain graduating this week who gave his name only as Jack said that the policies pursued by Trump would make US universities less attractive to international students.”I don’t know if I’d pursue a PhD here, six years is a long time,” he said.Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump’s measures, which legal experts say are likely to be overturned by the courts.Separately, alumni plan to file a lawsuit against Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group that held a mass webinar to raise awareness and a fighting fund from former students.- ‘American values’ -The cutting of contracts announced Tuesday — estimated by US media to be worth $100 million — would mark the slashing of business ties between the government and the country’s oldest university.Amid a broad campaign against seats of learning that Trump accuses of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism, the president has singled out Harvard.In the last few weeks, the elite educational and research powerhouse has seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up.The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 percent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding.A legal expert suggested Harvard could file a lawsuit to overturn the latest contract cuts as part of existing legal action.”The case is so strong that the court system is not going to step to the side and allow this… to go forward,” said Albany Law School professor Ray Brescia.He said the Trump administration’s assault on Harvard was so flawed that a higher court would likely strike down the campaign if the Trump administration were to challenge it on appeal. On Monday, Trump nonetheless vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle, claiming that foreign students at Harvard include “radicalized lunatics, troublemakers.”

SpaceX’s prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, capping another bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars.The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off around 6:36 pm (2336 GMT) from the company’s Starbase facility, near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city — also named Starbase.Excitement ran high among SpaceX engineers and spectators alike, after the last two outings ended with the upper stage disintegrating in fiery cascades over the Caribbean.But signs of trouble emerged quickly: the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.A live feed then showed the upper-stage spaceship failing to open its doors to deploy a payload of Starlink satellite “simulators.”Though the ship flew farther than on its two previous attempts, it sprang leaks and began spinning out of control as it coasted through space.Mission teams vented fuel to reduce the force of the expected explosion, and onboard cameras cut out roughly 45 minutes into what was meant to be a 66-minute flight — falling short of its target splashdown zone off Australia’s west coast.”Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” SpaceX posted on X — a familiar euphemism for fiery failure — while stressing it would learn from the setback.Musk, meanwhile, vowed to pick up the pace: “Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster — approximately one every 3 to 4 weeks,” he said.He did not say, however, whether he still planned to deliver a live stream about Mars that SpaceX had been promoting.- Space fans – Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, the black-and-white behemoth is designed to eventually be fully reusable and launch at low cost, carrying Musk’s hopes of making humanity a multi-planetary species.NASA is also counting on a variant of Starship to serve as the crew lander for Artemis 3, the mission to return Americans to the Moon.Ahead of the launch, dozens of space fans gathered at Isla Blanca Park on nearby South Padre Island, hoping to catch a glimpse of history.Several small tourist boats also dotted the lagoon, while a live feed showed Musk sitting at ground control in Starbase, wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt.Australian Piers Dawson, 50, told AFP he’s “obsessed” with the rocket and built his family vacation around the launch — his first trip to the United States, with his wife and teenage son whom he took out of school to be there.”I know in science there’s never a failure, you learn everything from every single test so that was still super exciting to see,” said Joshua Wingate, a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur from Austin, after the launch.- ‘Fail fast, learn fast’ -Starship has now completed nine integrated test flights atop its Super Heavy booster.  SpaceX is betting that its “fail fast, learn fast” ethos, which helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will once again pay off.One bright spot: the company has now caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s giant robotic arms three times — a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.This ninth flight marked the first time SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster, though it opted not to attempt a catch — instead pushing the envelope with a steeper descent angle and one engine intentionally disabled.The FAA recently approved an increase in Starship launches from five to 25 annually, stating the expanded schedule wouldn’t harm the environment — a decision that overruled objections from conservation groups concerned about impacts to sea turtles and shorebirds.