During each Starship test flight, beneath the roar of the rocket engines lies the anxious drumbeat of an urgent and looming deadline.
NASA hopes to use Starship — or a lunar lander built by SpaceX’s main rival, Blue Origin — to return its astronauts to the moon amid a space race with China. Both countries aim to build permanent bases on the Moon’s south pole.
Currently, NASA aims to land its astronauts on the Moon – for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972 – by 2028. This is widely expected to be delayed.
But before the agency can carry out this mission, it intends to conduct a test in low Earth orbit.
Called Artemis III, the test flight is planned for 2027. The goal is to launch four American astronauts, aboard the NASA-made Orion spacecraft, into orbit, where the vehicle will attempt to dock with both Starship and Blue Moon, the name of Blue Origin’s vehicle.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman said he is “confident” that Blue Origin and SpaceX vehicles will be ready – but much remains to be seen.
And even if Starship shows impeccable results during this test flight next year, there’s still a long way to go before the gargantuan rocket system is ready to start forging a lunar future.
For example, Starship must be refueled while in near-Earth orbit before heading to the Moon. This requires the transfer of super-cooled propellants, which must be kept at temperatures below -260°F, between multiple Starship spacecraft in space.
Such a feat has never been attempted in the history of spaceflight.
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