Going to Mars is considered one of the most complex milestones for humanity. However, with the successful test flight of the SpaceX starship yesterday, the world may be moving closer to landing humans on the surface of another planet for the first time. Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind SpaceX and its technologies was one of the many people that shared their opinions about the future of starship after yesterday’s successful test flight. The SpaceX Starship, a 400-foot-tall (122 meters) rocket lifted off yesterday, March 14, on its official third test flight.
“At ~5000 tons, Starship is the largest flying object ever made,” Musk wrote on X. This implies that no other spaceship or plane could come close to the size of the Starship. Hence, SpaceX did the impossible by flying the largest known human-made object yesterday.
However, the starship did not achieve its entire goals during third flight. Both its first-stage booster and the upper-stage spacecraft were lost as they made their way back to Earth. But despite the loss, the mega- rocket propelled faster, farther, and longer than it had ever done before. Its successful accomplishments were celebrated by NASA and other agencies.
“Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight! Starship has soared into the heavens. Together, we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the moon — then look onward to Mars,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said via X today.
The American Space Agency is hoping to land its Artemis astronauts on the moon during the Artemis 3 moon landing mission in September 2026. The effort made so far today has shown that SpaceX is seriously preparing to help NASA attain such a feat for humankind.
Third Test Flight: Musk’s Plans to Take Humanity to Mars
Elon Musk started SpaceX with the primary goal of making humanity multiplanetary species. However, for his company to attain the complex goal for humanity, it has to provide other services to sustain its future goals and objectives. The innovative aerospace company has continued to collaborate with NASA and other space agencies to deliver astronauts and payloads into orbit.
SpaceX has continued to provide these services with its Falcon space vehicles. However, Musk’s company started the starship program for distanced missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. After the first and second test flights last year, SpaceX learned from its past mistakes and successfully flew the starship megarocket during the third orbital test flight yesterday. Musk took his platform, X to share his excitement about the historic flight.
“Starship will make life multiplanetary,” Elon Musk wrote on X.
Making life multiplanetary requires a lot of effort from any space agency hoping to attain such a feat. Musk believed that the advanced technologies of his Starship vehicles should be able to protect life across the radiating space to reach a distant space world like Mars.
“Starship will take humanity to Mars,” Musk wrote on X.
With the success recorded during yesterday’s test flight, SpaceX will surely be looking forward to the exciting future of sending humans to the moon and Mars aboard fleets of starship vehicles. A few years ago, Musk outlined his plan of launching fleets of 1,000 Starships to Mars every 26 months, which will be during the recurring window when Earth and the red planet will align properly.
However, this ambition may become obtainable shortly. As for now, SpaceX will focus on conducting more starship orbital testing to perfect the launch of the most powerful rocket of our time.
