Rapper Nicki Minaj made a surprise appearance Thursday at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas during the live webcast for the Starship Flight 12 launch, seemingly catching the webcast hosts off guard, as she shared a sweet message to Elon Musk.
“Elon, thank you for everything you are doing for humanity,” Minaj said on the webcast, as she encouraged her “Barbz” fanbase to go and watch one of SpaceX’s launches.
But undoubtedly much to the rapper’s disappointment, SpaceX suddenly called off the debut launch of its next-generation Starship rocket, just ahead of lift-off.
The company halted the countdown in the final minute due to a technical problem that pushed the attempt to Friday.
It’s unknown whether Nicki, 43, who recently doubled down on her support of MAGA, will attend the revised launch.
X users took to the comments section to react to the “Bang Bang” rapper’s message.
“Cool that she got to check it out! Starbase always looks epic.
Welcome, Nicki,” one user said.
Another user wrote, “Very cool Nicki ! Tour the area and soak in the massive facility.”
“Elon perfectly merging pop culture with mult-iplanetary civilization.
The unofficial anthem of Terminus has arrived,” a third wrote.
The aborted launch was for the 12th test flight of the Starship program and the first for the company’s newly developed V3 spaceship, a larger and more powerful iteration of the megarocket SpaceX hopes will one day carry astronauts to the Moon and eventually Mars.
“New rocket, new pad, we’re learning a lot about these new systems as we execute them for the first time,” SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said during the live broadcast.
“We are expecting to be able to make another flight attempt tomorrow.”
The company rescheduled the launch for 6:30 p.m.
EDT Friday from its Starbase facility along the southern Texas coast.
Thousands of viewers had tuned in to a live stream carried simultaneously on the SpaceX website and X.
The V3 Starship stands 408 feet tall when fully assembled, edging out its predecessor by a few feet.
The vehicle is equipped with redesigned engines SpaceX says are capable of producing 18 million pounds of thrust, a significant increase over earlier models.
Engineers also incorporated internal modifications aimed at expanding fuel capacity and improving navigational systems.
SpaceX described the upgrades as a meaningful leap forward for the program.
“Together, these new elements are designed to enable a step-change in Starship capabilities and aim to unlock the vehicle’s core functions, including full and rapid reuse, in-space propellant transfer, deployment of Starlink satellites and orbital data centers, and the ability to send people and cargo to the Moon and Mars,” the company said in a statement on its website.
Had Thursday’s flight proceeded, the rocket was set to remain in Earth’s orbit for approximately 65 minutes.
The Mission’s plan was to deploy 22 simulated Starlink satellites and test the ship’s ability to relight one of its six Raptor engines during a deorbit burn maneuver in space.
The scrub adds another chapter to a turbulent history of the program, which has seen two mid-flight explosions and a loss of control during atmospheric reentry since its 2023 debut.
