Elon Musk flies to Hawthorne, California, the week of SpaceX’s Starship static fire test

Elon Musk flew from Memphis to Hawthorne, California, on May 27, 2026, arriving at Jack Northrop Field at 11:42 p.m. local time after a three-hour, thirty-six-minute flight in the Gulfstream G450 N450GG. The trip came at the tail end of a busy day that saw Musk’s fleet shuttle between Austin, San Jose, and Los Angeles, suggesting a coordinated movement of personnel or assets.

The same week, SpaceX is conducting a static fire test of a Starship upper stage at its McGregor, Texas, facility, per a company update posted on X on May 26. Hawthorne is the site of SpaceX’s headquarters and mission control, and Musk’s arrival there—rather than at his usual Starbase home in Brownsville—indicates he is likely overseeing preparations from the corporate office rather than the launch site. The static fire is a prerequisite for the next orbital launch attempt, which has been delayed by regulatory reviews.

Musk’s travel patterns have been heavily skewed toward SpaceX facilities in recent months: of his last ten flights, seven have touched down at either San Jose or Hawthorne, the two airports serving SpaceX’s California operations. The Memphis stop earlier in the day remains unexplained, but the Hawthorne arrival fits a clear pattern of hands-on management as the company pushes toward its next Starship milestone.