Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a meeting of importance yesterday with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at Blair House in Washington. With three children and his girlfriend Shivon Zilis, Musk made the headlines by donating a jaw-dropping gift.
Musk, former head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the Trump administration, gave Prime Minister Modi a heatshield tile that was on SpaceX’s Starship test flight 5 in October 2024. The tile, which has the words “Starship Flight Test 5. October 13, 2024” inscribed on it, is a token of a historic milestone in aerospace technology.
The hexagonal ceramic heatshield tiles on Starship by SpaceX are designed to sustain the extreme heat encountered during atmospheric re-entry and are fundamental to the spacecraft’s safe return to Earth. The South Texas launch in October was significant for its success in catching the Super Heavy booster at the launch site, a major breakthrough in aerospace technology.
In the name of cultural exchange, Prime Minister Modi gave three all-time Indian books to Musk’s children: Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s “The Crescent Moon”, Great RK Narayan Collection, and Pandit Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra. Images tweeted by the Prime Minister revealed Musk’s children totally absorbed in these great books.
On X, Prime Minister Modi had tweeted regarding the fruitful meeting, stating, “We discussed a variety of topics, including ones he is keen on like space, mobility, technology, and innovation. I spoke about India’s efforts at reform and driving ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.'”
The meeting also provided the opportunity to network with Musk’s family, paving the way to an opportunity to talk about wide-ranging topics. This meeting follows their encounter having first met when Modi had made a visit to the Tesla plant in San Jose in 2015, at the head of which was led personally by Musk.
