Sporting a signature red Make America Great Again baseball cap, President-elect Donald Trump stood among the cheering crowd gathered last Tuesday in southern Texas to watch SpaceX successfully launch Starship–its sixth test of the new rocket developed to take people and cargo to the moon and beyond. Nearby was Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO and the world’s richest person, with whom Trump has been spending a lot of time since the November 5 election. Tapped by Trump to co-chair newly created advisory board Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk will continue to work alongside the president-elect. Such close ties with Trump bode well for SpaceX, which has already gotten nearly $20 billion in government contracts over the years from such clients as NASA and the Department of Defense and is valued at $210 billion by private investors.

Even before Musk befriended Trump, SpaceX had been on quite a run. Estimated 2023 revenue for the space company nearly doubled from the prior year to $8.7 billion. It was enough to rocket it up 85 spots to No. 60 on this year’s list of America’s Top Private Companies list, making it the biggest gainer. A big factor boosting revenue: Starlink, the company’s fast-growing satellite business. The network, which uses some 6,000 satellites, provides internet access to remote locations around the world, including new markets in Africa and the Middle East. While the service is seen as particularly useful in more rural areas, there is interest in urban areas, too. Currently the service is sold out in areas around Seattle, Washington and Austin, Texas as well as part of Canada and Europe, per the company’s website. The Pentagon also has a contract with SpaceX to provide Starlink internet service........

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