MSNBC hosts swarmed on the news that a rocket test flight for Elon Musk’s SpaceX ended in an explosion.
On Thursday, SpaceX’s fully integrated Starship megarocket exploded during its eighth suborbital flight test.
However, while the explosion appears dramatic, it’s not uncommon for the rockets to explode during test flights, and it’s often considered part of the process.
Musk called Thursday’s explosion “a minor setback” on Friday.
“Progress is measured by time,” Musk said in a post on X.
“The next ship will be ready in 4 to 6 weeks.”
MSNBC hosts dug into CEO Elon Musk, saying, “Go back to your day job and work that out.”
One of the main objectives of the flight was to capture Starship’s Super Heavy booster—one of its two key components—using the launch tower’s “chopsticks.”
This part of the mission was successfully executed.
However, much like the previous test flight in January, the upper stage encountered issues once it reached space.
It began spinning uncontrollably before ultimately losing communication and breaking apart, causing debris to fall back to Earth.
MSNBC hosts Symone Sanders, Alicia Menendez, and Michael Steele discussed the situation on Saturday’s broadcast of “The Weekend.”
Steele took the opportunity to mock Musk over the incident.
“For Elon, his response to all of this was, ‘Rockets are hard,’” Steele said.
“And Mr. Musk, if they’re so hard, why don’t you go back to your day job and work that out and leave those of us who do government to do government because you can’t do both,” Steele said.
“Clearly, you’re failing right now at both.”
While SpaceX quickly began working with safety officials on pre-established contingency measures, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued temporary ground stops at several Florida airports, including Miami International.
The incident also prompted the FAA to initiate a “mishap investigation,” a routine safety review following such events.
“We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand [the] root cause,” SpaceX stated.
“As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.”
Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and ex-chair of the Republican National Committee, also criticized Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“I suggest you concentrate on the one thing you think you know more about, and do that, and leave the rest to those of us who know a little bit of how to provide services to people who need them and make the government function,” Steele said.
“Rockets are hard. So is government.”
WATCH:
DOGE, a temporary White House initiative created by executive order earlier this year, was assigned by President Donald Trump to improve government efficiency, streamline operations, and reduce costs within an 18-month timeframe.
The Democrats claim that DOGE has been given excessive authority over federal systems.
Critics argue that it should not have the power to terminate federal contracts or impose budget cuts across various agencies.
However, DOGE and Musk don’t have any such powers and can only make recommendations to the president.
The initiative has already scrapped multiple diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at federal agencies, along with consulting contracts, leases for underutilized government buildings, and redundant departments and initiatives.
As a result, DOGE has saved taxpayers billions of dollars in wasteful spending and fraudulent abuse of federal funds.
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