Donald Trump went to Texas to watch a spaceship launch tower catch a moving rocket booster with the tenderness of a parent cradling their newborn baby, but all he got instead was 33 rocket engines crashing into the ocean.

President-elect Donald Trump watched the SpaceX launch from the Lone Star State Tuesday afternoon alongside Elon Musk, and a group of senators, and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

The president-elect’s appearance in Texas demonstrates the growing closeness between the two billionaires, and Mr. Musk’s increasing influence in Mr. Trump’s orbit.