Starship

It was a case of two steps forward, one step back for SpaceX’s Starship development program today, with a dramatic explosion from a prototype of the company’s Mars-bound rocket during testing on the ground.

SpaceX has notched up another milestone in its efforts to reach Mars by fixing its Raptor Vacuum engine to the Starship spacecraft and test-firing it for the first time. This larger engine variant will propel the massive vehicle once it reaches space.

Following a series of impressive yet explosive attempts to bring down its giant spaceship built for interplanetary travel, SpaceX has today successfully landed its Starship prototype without exploding for the first time.

NASA has awarded SpaceX a contract to develop the lunar lander for the Artemis program that will ferry humans to and from the surface of the Moon in 2024. SpaceX’s Starship prototype beat out competing companies Blue Origin and Dynetics for the job.

SpaceX has made a miraculous first landing of its Starship spacecraft, a momentous step forward in the company's ambitions to reach the Moon and Mars, following less successful attempts in which earlier Starship prototypes exploded on touchdown.

SpaceX has again blasted off from the launchpad with a prototype of its massive Starship vehicle designed for deep space exploration, and again brought it back to Earth in explosive style as another landing attempt had a fiery finale.

Space exploration in 2021 will see some major milestones to look forward to. From maiden flights to fiery endings, long-awaited launches to history-making first steps, here are some of the biggest upcoming events in space exploration this year.

Controlled landings of its Falcon 9 boosters have become almost de rigueur for SpaceX, but Elon Musk has revealed different plans for the Falcon 9's bigger sibling, the Super Heavy booster – catching it using the launch tower arm.

SpaceX's Starship has reached magnificent new heights, today climbing to high altitude before exploding in a spectacular fireball during a landing attempt. Despite this, the first sub-orbital flight of the SN8 prototype was largely a successful one.

Development of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft that is hoped to carry humans to Mars continues at the company’s Boca Chica site in Texas, where the team just performed a 150-meter (500-ft) hop test of a full-size prototype.

Elon Musk has given an update on SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft & booster, stating that a crewed launch could occur next year.

Just a few weeks after its Starhopper prototype completed its final test flight, SpaceX is busy pulling the pieces together for a higher-flying version.