SpaceX Starship: Development, Test Flights, and Mars Ambitions

Starship is built from stainless steel rather than the carbon-fiber composites SpaceX first considered. Musk championed steel because it is inexpensive, easy to weld and retains strength at both cryogenic and high temperatures, reducing the heat shielding needed on reentry.^[1][2]

Both stages are powered by Raptor engines, which burn liquid methane and liquid oxygen using a highly efficient full-flow staged-combustion cycle. Methane was chosen partly because it can be produced on Mars from carbon dioxide and water ice, enabling refueling for the return trip.^[2][3] Both stages are designed to return and be caught or land for rapid reuse — the key to lowering the cost of access to space by orders of magnitude.^[3]

Development accelerated in 2019 at Boca Chica, Texas, where SpaceX built prototypes in the open air. A squat test vehicle called Starhopper made short hops that year, followed by high-altitude flights of full-size Starship prototypes in 2020 and 2021.^[1][4] Early prototypes exploded on landing until SN15 touched down successfully in May 2021.^[1]

The site grew into Starbase, a production and launch complex that was incorporated as a city in Texas in 2025.^[4] SpaceX also began building Starship launch infrastructure in Florida.^[4]

The first integrated flight of Starship and Super Heavy launched on April 20, 2023. It cleared the pad before the vehicle was terminated, and each subsequent flight pushed further.^[4][5] In June 2024, Flight 4 achieved controlled splashdowns of both the booster and the ship.^[4]

On October 13, 2024, Flight 5 made history when the returning Super Heavy booster was caught in midair by the launch tower's mechanical arms, nicknamed "chopsticks."^{[4][5][12][13][14]} After setbacks with an upgraded ship design in early 2025, Flights 10 and 11 in August and October 2025 met their objectives, including deploying test satellites and precise splashdowns.^[4]

In 2026 SpaceX introduced the larger, more capable Starship V3. On July 24, 2026, Flight 13 deployed the first 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites and made the softest splashdown yet; the ship survived intact and was recovered and shipped back to Texas.^[6][7] As of late September 2026, SpaceX was preparing Flight 14, the program's first fully orbital mission, targeted for September 28.^[8]

In April 2021 NASA selected a version of Starship as the Human Landing System for its Artemis program, with a contract worth about $2.9 billion to return astronauts to the lunar surface.^{[9][10][15][16]} The mission requires orbital refueling, in which tanker Starships transfer propellant to the lander in Earth orbit — a capability SpaceX has been developing and demonstrating step by step.^[3][9]

Starship is the centerpiece of Musk's plan to make humanity multiplanetary. He has described fleets of Starships departing for Mars during the favorable launch windows that open roughly every 26 months, eventually carrying the people and supplies needed for a self-sustaining city.^[3][11]

Musk has discussed sending the first uncrewed Starships to Mars in an upcoming transfer window to test landing and gather data, followed by crewed missions.^[3][11] Wait But Why's detailed series on SpaceX explains why a fully reusable rocket is the essential ingredient: only by reusing ships many times can the cost of moving to Mars fall to a level many people could afford.^[11]