CNBC by Michael Sheetz 9/1/2020
Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starship rocket will launch ‘hundreds of missions’ before flying people
Key Points
• SpaceX is developing its next-generation Starship rocket to launch cargo or as many as 100 people at a time to the Moon or Mars.
• But CEO Elon Musk said the rocket has many milestones to go before it launches passengers.
• “We’ve got to first make the thing work; automatically deliver satellites and do hundreds of missions with satellites before we put people on board,†Musk said at a virtual conference on Monday.
SpaceX is developing its next-generation Starship rocket to one day launch dozens of people to space, but CEO Elon Musk emphasized that the rocket has many milestones to go before it can take passengers.
“We’ve got to first make the thing work; automatically deliver satellites and do hundreds of missions with satellites before we put people on board,†Musk said, speaking Monday at the virtual “Humans to Mars†conference.
Starship represents the company’s top priority, as Musk wants to build a fully reusable rocket system that can launch cargo or as many as 100 people at a time. While SpaceX’s current Falcon fleet of rockets is partially reusable, as the company can land and reuse the rocket’s boosters, Musk hopes Starship transforms space travel into something more akin to commercial air travel.
The rocket’s enormous size would also make it capable of launching several times as much cargo at once — for comparison, while SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets can send as many as 60 Starlink satellites at a time, SpaceX says Starship will be able to launch 400 Starlink satellites at a time.
More:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/01/elon-musk-spacex-starship-to-fly-hundreds-of-missions-before-people.html
