SpaceX Starship

Starship is a two-stage, fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by American aerospace company SpaceX. Currently built and launched from Starbase in Texas, it is intended as the successor to the company's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and is part of SpaceX's broader reusable launch system development program. If completed as designed, Starship would be the first fully reusable orbital rocket and have the highest payload capacity of any launch vehicle to date. As of October 13, 2025, Starship has launched 11 times, with 6 successful flights and 5 failures.

The vehicle consists of two stages: the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, both powered by Raptor engines burning liquid methane (the main component of natural gas) and liquid oxygen. Both stages are intended to return to the launch site and land vertically at the launch tower for potential reuse. Once in space, the Starship upper stage is intended to function as a standalone spacecraft capable of carrying crew and cargo. Missions beyond low Earth orbit would require multiple in-orbit refueling flights. At the end of its mission, Starship reenters the atmosphere using heat shield tiles similar to those of the Space Shuttle. SpaceX states that its goal is to reduce launch costs by both reusing and mass producing both stages.

SpaceX has proposed a wide range of missions for Starship, such as deploying large satellites, space station modules, and space telescopes. A crewed variant, developed under contract with NASA, is called the Starship Human Landing System, which is scheduled to deliver astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program, beginning with Artemis III currently scheduled for 2027. SpaceX has also expressed ambitions to use Starship for crewed missions to Mars.

SpaceX began developing concepts for a super heavy-lift reusable launch vehicle as early as 2005, with different names throughout the years. Starship's current design and name were introduced in 2018. Development has followed an iterative and incremental approach, involving a high number of test flights and prototype vehicles. The first launch of a full Starship vehicle occurred on April 20, 2023, and ended with the explosion of the rocket four minutes after liftoff. The program has failed to meet many of its optimistic schedule goals, with its development having had several setbacks, including the failure of the first four Block 2 upper stages in 2025.