When employees at SpaceX HQ saw their latest Starship rocket make a steady, controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean, after an hour-long flight where it passed every test, the atmosphere was jubilant — and more than a little patriotic.
“USA, USA,” engineers chanted on the SpaceX livestream from Starbase in Brownsville, Texas — jumping and pumping fists in a style more like a sports game than NASA Mission Control.
Still, celebration was warranted — for SpaceX as much as for the U.S. space program.
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