MORGAN MCFALL-JOHNSEN, BUSINESS INSIDER 24 FEBRUARY 2021 SpaceX is preparing to rocket its latest Starship prototype tens of thousands of feet into the air as early as this week. The challenge is landing it back on the ground – that maneuver has ended in explosion both times the company previously attempted it. This time around, SpaceX founder Elon Musk estimated that the prototype has a 60 percent chance of a successful landing.
The prototype represents the upper stage of a two-part system: Eventually, a roughly 23-story booster called Super Heavy would heave the Starship spaceship toward orbit. Musk's long-term vision is for the system to one day fly astronauts to the moon and power hypersonic travel on Earth. He has said he plans to build 1,000 Starships in order to carry people and cargo to Mars.