Elon Musk flies to Hawthorne the same week SpaceX preps for Starship test

Elon Musk flew from Moffett Federal Airfield to Jack Northrop Field Hawthorne Municipal Airport on May 27, 2026, a 58-minute hop in the Gulfstream G550 N272BG. The aircraft touched down at 5:27 UTC near SpaceX's headquarters, a facility Musk visits regularly for rocket development and executive meetings.

The same week, SpaceX is preparing for its next Starship integrated test flight from Starbase, Texas, per public schedules and regulatory filings. Hawthorne serves as the engineering and design hub for the company's Falcon and Dragon programs, and Musk's presence often aligns with major milestones or technical reviews.

This flight follows a pattern: N272BG flew from Hawthorne to Moffett on May 23, and from Austin to Moffett on May 26. Musk's fleet—five Gulfstreams registered through Falcon Landing LLC—shuttles him between Tesla's engineering HQ in Silicon Valley, SpaceX's California and Texas sites, and his Austin home base, as documented by celebplanes flight logs.