Elon Musk reveals Starship's Mars mission set for 2026
Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX's Starship rocket is set to depart for Mars in March 2026. The humanoid robot Optimus will be onboard.
SpaceX has scheduled its first Starship rocket flight to Mars for March 2026. Elon Musk shared this information on the platform X. The humanoid robot Optimus will accompany the rocket on its journey.
Starship is an impressive rocket, over 394 feet tall, designed to transport large payloads into orbit. In addition to the Martian missions, Starship is crucial for the Artemis programme, which aims to send humans back to the Moon and establish a permanent presence there.
Elon Musk predicts that if the Starship lands successfully on Mars, humans could reach the Red Planet as early as 2029. However, this is an optimistic assumption, and the year 2031 is more plausible.
Starship has already completed eight test flights into space. Unfortunately, during its last flight at the beginning of March, a malfunction caused the spacecraft to lose control and explode in mid-air.
Falcon 9 embarked on a rescue mission to the ISS
On Friday, the Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, heading towards the International Space Station (ISS). The mission, organised by NASA and SpaceX, aims to bring astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth, as they have been aboard the station since June.
The Falcon 9 mission encountered some technical difficulties. The launch, originally planned for Wednesday, was postponed due to technical reasons. NASA also had to amend certain flight safety verification procedures due to SpaceX's "rapid pace of operations." This required, among other things, investigating a fuel leak and the deterioration of the coating on some engines of the Dragon capsule.
Despite their extended stay, astronauts Wilmore and Williams conducted scientific research and performed routine maintenance work on the ISS.
