Nicki Minaj turned up at SpaceX's sprawling Starbase facility on the southern Texas coast last Thursday for the company's planned debut launch of its Starship V3 rocket — and the world took notice, though not entirely for reasons the rapper may have anticipated. In a brief interview aired on the SpaceX livestream just minutes before the scheduled lift-off, Minaj offered glowing words for the company's billionaire founder and chief executive.
"Major shout out to Elon," she told the camera. "Thank you for everything you're doing for humanity." She called the occasion both "historic" and "amazing," and urged her devoted fanbase — the Barbz — to tune in to the spectacle. She arrived wearing a graphic tee emblazoned with "Starship," a double nod to both the megarocket and her own 2012 smash hit "Starships," from her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. SpaceX had pre-empted the visit with its own wink, posting "Starships are meant to fly" on X before the broadcast.
— Nicki Minaj, during the SpaceX Starship Flight 12 livestream, May 21, 2026
The launch itself, however, did not cooperate. With only six minutes remaining on the countdown clock, SpaceX halted the attempt after teams encountered technical issues they could not resolve in time. "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 told viewers during the broadcast. The company rescheduled for Friday evening, when the rocket successfully lifted off — prompting Minaj to congratulate the company on X.
It was the 12th test flight of the Starship program, and the first for the newly developed V3 vehicle — a larger, more powerful iteration of the megarocket that SpaceX intends to one day carry astronauts to the Moon and eventually to Mars. The program has had a turbulent history; at least seven of its eleven previous integrated test flights ended in explosions, loss of vehicle, uncontrolled re-entry, or other major anomalies. Flaming debris scattered across the Caribbean after a Starship exploded in space in 2025.
Yet for many observers, the technology itself was not the story. Minaj's presence at Starbase was immediately read as the latest and most visible sign of her alignment with the MAGA political movement. The rapper, 43, first publicly endorsed President Donald Trump in mid-2025, and has since steadily broadened her public association with figures in his orbit. She attended Turning Point USA's AmericaFest, where she was interviewed by conservative media personalities. She defended the president against criticism from California Governor Gavin Newsom. And last month, she drew widespread attention — and condemnation — after attacking journalist Don Lemon over his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota.
Musk himself served as a senior adviser to Trump and led the Department of Government Efficiency — known by the acronym DOGE — where he controversially facilitated mass layoffs across the federal government before stepping back from the role. His relationship with the president has since grown more complicated, but he remains one of Trump's most prominent business allies. SpaceX's stock market debut on the Nasdaq is reportedly due next month; the initial public offering could, analysts note, make Musk the first person in history to accumulate a net worth exceeding one trillion dollars.
Minaj has offered her own account of her political evolution. Speaking previously about her embrace of MAGA politics, she said she had grown disillusioned with the Democratic Party. Her critics, however, have suggested the pivot is more calculated than ideological — a bid to remain culturally relevant at a moment when the culture itself has shifted. Admirers counter that artists have always held the right to independent political convictions, regardless of genre or demographic expectation.
Whatever the motivations, the SpaceX appearance generated more conversation than the rocket itself. Her cameo quickly became one of the most talked-about moments of the broadcast, with her interview segment overshadowing the technical commentary in the final minutes before the aborted countdown. By Friday morning, her name was trending on X — the platform now owned, of course, by the man she had just thanked for his contributions to humanity.