Elon Musk lands in Hawthorne day before SpaceX CRS-34 launch

Elon Musk flew from Moffett Federal Airfield near Palo Alto, California, to Jack Northrop Field Hawthorne Municipal Airport on May 11, 2026, aboard his Gulfstream G550, N272BG. The 58-minute jaunt covered just under 300 miles at altitudes topping 31,000 feet, touching down shortly after 7 p.m. local time.

The timing aligns with SpaceX's preparations for the CRS-34 mission, scheduled to launch Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on May 12 from Cape Canaveral, as announced on the company's website. Hawthorne, site of SpaceX's original headquarters and ongoing Dragon production, remains a nerve center despite the 2024 relocation announcement to Texas. Musk's visit suggests direct involvement in final checks for the resupply flight carrying experiments and supplies for NASA.

This trip fits Musk's pattern of frequent California shuttles, even after selling his properties and pledging to own no houses. Recent flights show him bouncing between Bay Area offices—likely xAI in Palo Alto—and Los Angeles-area sites, including Hawthorne, amid SpaceX's IPO filings and new AI chip ventures reported by Reuters and The New York Times this month. The world's richest man, ever the micromanager, keeps one foot in Silicon Valley's legacy hubs.