The Starship will be the first to fly to the moon, and China will not win the moon race, said Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX.
SpaceX is “moving at lightning speed compared to the rest of the space industry,” he wrote on social media. According to Musk, Starship will be the first spacecraft to complete a full lunar mission.
The spacecraft is scheduled to land humans on the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program in 2027. Musk wants to certify Starship for human flights as early as next year. China plans to make a manned landing on the moon in 2030.
SpaceX’s reusable rocket system consists of the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy launch vehicle. It is over 120 meters tall. It is taller than any other rocket ever built in the world. The Super Heavy launch vehicle is twice as powerful as NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy rocket, which is being developed for manned flights to the Moon.
The rocket has already been launched on 11 test orbital flights, five of which ended in failure.
