SpaceX’s Starship Soars, but German Media Prefers Its Rockets on the Ground

A Cosmic Success Story with a Grounded Twist in Germany

Envious Germany journalists trying to write down the success of SpaceX. Image created by Dall-E 2.

As the rest of the world threw confetti and popped champagne corks to celebrate SpaceX’s triumphant third Starship flight — a marvel of modern engineering and a beacon of future space exploration — German media outlets decided to throw shade instead of parties. With ZDF declaring “Dritte ‘Starship’-Rakete bei neuem Testflug zerstört” and FR Frankfurter Rundschau somberly noting the rocket didn’t survive reentry, one might think the mission had gone awry. Yet, these headlines, amusingly enough, represent a curious anomaly in the space-time continuum where success is seen as an elaborate form of failure. Remember, this comedic narrative isn’t isolated but a pattern observed across German media outlets, making it seem as if there’s a national competition to downplay interstellar achievements.

Negative headlines dominate German media reports on the success of SpaceX. Screenshot taken March 15th, 2024.

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