Elon Musk's New Timeline For The Starship's First Orbital Flight

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The Starship is Elon Musk's super-heavy rocket that he hopes will take humans to Mars before the end of this decade. It will also transport NASA astronauts to the moon after SpaceX won a bid to develop a human lander for the Artemis mission in addition to the Space Launch System (SLS). Several tests have been taking place in Boca Chica, Texas, as part of the development of the ambitious rocket. While it isn't the first time Musk has talked about a first orbital flight, it wasn't until recently that a more concrete timeline began to materialize.

Following the trademark of all SpaceX rockets, the Starship will be fully-reusable. Its unique design makes it the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, and it will have the ability to carry more than 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit. The Starship system consists of a Super Heavy booster and a 165-foot-tall upper-stage spacecraft called Starship. It stands at 394 ft tall — 31 ft more than the legendary Saturn V— and 73 ft more than NASA's SLS rocket. The Super Heavy booster alone is powered by thirty-three new generation Raptor engines, while other SpaceX rockets such as the Falcon 9 use Merlin engines.

Related: This Is What A SpaceX Starship Launch Will Look Like

Super Heavy Prototypes have been tested, and many of these tryouts have been unsuccessful. The latest failed attempt was the Booster 7, resulting in a massive fireball during a test on July 11. The incidents so far had made it unclear when the Starship was going to be ready for the next step, which is the long-expected first orbital flight test. On Aug. 2, Musk responded to a <a href=«https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1554596132281585664?ref_src=» https: screenrant.com target="_blank" rel=«noopener