Elon Musk brought his son X AE A-Xii to a Zoom presentation on Wednesday, and the youngster practically stole the show. Musk spoke virtually to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine about his company SpaceX and its progress on creating a fully reusable spacecraft. However, he knew when to let his 18-month-old son take the reigns.
Musk shares X AE A-Xii with musician Grimes, though the two split up earlier this year. Apparently, he had custody on Wednesday as he held the baby on his lap for a portion of his presentation. X AE A-Xii is getting better at speaking, shouting “Hi!” at the camera periodically and making other pre-linguistic babbling sounds. He also waved, smiled and apparently became overwhelmed with shock when he realized he was the center of attention on the Zoom call.
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Once X AE A-Xii became a distraction to his talking points, Musk handed the baby off to someone off-screen and continued. However, at the end of the presentation, many viewers were still more focused on the baby’s cameo than on the Starship project.
The appearance of X AE A-Xii on the Zoom call was surprising not just because Musk and Grimes have split up now, but because the billionaire has said that he does not take a very hands-on approach with children at this age. Last summer, he told The New York Times: “Well, babies are just eating and pooping machines, you know? Right now there’s not much I can do… When the kid gets older, there will be more a role for me.”
Musk and Grimes were together for three years, welcoming X AE A-Xii in May of 2020 and splitting up in September. At the time, Musk told Page Six: “We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms.. It’s mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas and her work is primarily in L.A. She’s staying with me now and Baby X is in the adjacent room.”
SpaceX’s Starship would be the first full reusable spacecraft developed. The company plans to use it in its dearMoon project, NASA’s Atermis program and, eventually, for trips to Mars. More tests are needed before the craft can be utilized to this extent.
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The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023. – The rocket successfully blasted off at 8:33 am Central Time (1333 GMT). The Starship capsule had been scheduled to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight but separation failed to occur and the rocket blew up. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
