X

Elon Musk wants to send a Starship to orbit as soon as July

The "full stack" of a Super Heavy booster and Starship could debut in just a few months.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
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Eric Mack
2 min read
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Starship prototype SN9 awaits launch in Texas.

SpaceX

SpaceX is targeting July to take its next big step on the path toward Mars. That's when Elon Musk says he hopes to launch a Starship prototype that includes the "full stack" of the main spacecraft riding atop the company's new Super Heavy rocket booster.

Stripped-down Starship prototypes with three Raptor engines have made a series of three high-altitude flights over the past four months. All these flights have ended in dramatic explosions and none have yet taken a Starship beyond Earth's atmosphere.

A full-stack flight would likely be the first attempt at sending a Starship prototype to orbit. On Tuesday, Musk confirmed a timeline, first reported by NASASpaceflight.com, that has SpaceX targeting a first full-stack flight by July.

Musk, of course, is notorious for failing to meet his reliably ambitious timelines, but SpaceX has big plans for Starship in the near future. The company has talked up the possibility of landing an uncrewed Starship on the moon as soon as next year, with an initial trip to Mars coming perhaps just a few years later.

All this is contingent on quite a few things going right and all on schedule, however. SpaceX will have to complete a testing campaign on the ground for Super Heavy in the coming months and try out some design tweaks to Starship that are in the works now.

It would also be ideal to perfect the landing for Starship, even if the fireworks at the end of its early test flights have been quite a striking sight.

SpaceX SN8 flew high and landed hard.

SpaceX/CNET video capture by Jackson Ryan

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