Login
SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced that his company's Starship spacecraft will be the first to fly to the Moon, beating the Chinese program. He wrote this on the social media platform X, noting that SpaceX is "moving at lightning speed compared to the rest of the space industry."
According to Musk, Starship will conduct a full-fledged lunar mission as part of NASA's Artemis program in 2027, when humans are planned to land on the moon. The entrepreneur expects to certify the spacecraft for crewed flights as early as next year.
China, for its part, aims to achieve a manned lunar landing by 2030.
SpaceX's reusable rocket system includes the Starship spacecraft itself and the Super Heavy launch vehicle, which stands over 120 meters tall, making it the largest rocket ever built. Super Heavy is twice as powerful as NASA's Space Launch System (SLS).
Since testing began, Starship has completed 11 orbital launches, five of which ended in failure. Despite this, Musk is confident that his ship will be the first to open a new chapter in the history of lunar missions.