Despite tremendous hype ahead of the uncommon presentation, Elon Musk gave an update on SpaceX’s plans to create its interplanetary Starship rocket on Thursday night but stopped short of revealing a firm launch date for an orbital test or new missions.
“I feel at this moment quite confident that we’ll go to orbit this year,” the entrepreneur told an audience at the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, south Texas while hinting at a potential pivot to launching from Florida if the company encounters regulatory roadblocks.
Musk was speaking against the backdrop of the spacecraft, which stands 394 feet (120 meters) tall with a matte black upper-stage atop a gleaming silver Super Heavy first-stage rocket.
They combine to form the world’s largest spaceship, towering over even the Saturn V rockets that carried Apollo astronauts to the Moon.
Starship, which will be made of stainless steel and designed to be totally reusable, will be the world’s most powerful rocket, capable of lifting up to 100 metric tons into Earth orbit.
SpaceX envisions the ship delivering passengers and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, and NASA recently awarded the corporation a contract for a version of Starship to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface as part of the Artemis program.
