The Chief of Tesla Elon Musk believes his other company SpaceX is close to fulfilling his dream of orbital and interplanetary expeditions and will be able to perform its first journey in weeks.
Musk said last Saturday that the first orbital stack of Starship would be ready to take off in mere weeks. In May, the company had performed its first successful landing with its SN15 Starship prototype which is capable of carrying heavy payloads and is supposed to be reusable. The rocket was able to reach 33,000 feet above the sea.
The 120-meter behemoth consists of a 160 feet stainless steel body and a 230 feet first-stage mega booster. The rocket should be able to carry both astronauts and other objects to the Moon and Mars and land safely back. Powered by the Raptor engine, the Starship uses liquid oxygen and methane. While the mega boosters can hold up to 37 engines, Starship features three Sea-Level engines and three vacuum variant engines.
Musk tweeted, "First orbital stack of Starship should be ready for flight in a few weeks, pending only regulatory approval."
According to Reuters, the billionaire wants to fly Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, around the moon in 2023 while making space travel more mainstream and cheap.
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