SpaceX Starship

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Starship

Starship ignition during launch on its fifth flight
Function	Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Country of origin	United States
Project cost	At least US$5 billion[1]
Cost per launch	$100 million (expendable)[2]
Size
Height	Block 1: 121.3 m (398 ft) Block 2: 124.4 m (408 ft)[a]
Diameter	9 m (30 ft)
Mass	5,000 t (11,000,000 lb)
Stages	2
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	Block 1: 50–100 t (110,000–220,000 lb)[4][5] Block 2: 100–150 t (220,000–330,000 lb)[6] Block 3: 200 t (440,000 lb)[7] Block 3 Expendable: 400 t (880,000 lb)
Volume	1,000 m3 (35,000 cu ft)
Associated rockets
Comparable	Energia Long March 9 Long March 10 N1 Saturn V Space Launch System
Launch history
Status	In Development
Launch sites	Starbase, OLP-A Starbase, OLP-B (under construction) Kennedy, LC-39A (under construction) Cape Canaveral, SLC-37 (planned)
Total launches	9 Block 1: 6 Block 2: 3 Block 3: 0
Success(es)	4 Block 1: 4 Block 2: 0 Block 3: 0
Failure(s)	5 Block 1: 2 (FT-1, FT-2) Block 2: 3 (FT-7, FT-8, FT-9) Block 3: 0
First flight	April 20, 2023; 2 years ago (2023-04-20)
Last flight	May 27, 2025; 35 days ago (2025-05-27)
Stage info First stage – Super Heavy Height 71 m (233 ft) Diameter 9 m (30 ft) Empty mass 275 t (606,000 lb) Gross mass 3,675 t (8,102,000 lb) Propellant mass 3,400 t (7,500,000 lb) Powered by 33 × Raptor engines Maximum thrust 89.5 MN (20,100,000 lbf)[8] Specific impulse SL: 327 s (3.21 km/s) Propellant CH4 / LOX Second stage – Starship Height Block 1: 50.3 m (165 ft) Block 2: 52.1 m (171 ft) Diameter 9 m (30 ft) Empty mass Block 1: ~100 t (220,000 lb)[9] Block 2: 85 t (187,000 lb)[10] Gross mass Block 1: ~1,300 t (2,900,000 lb) Block 2: 1,585 t (3,494,000 lb) [b] Propellant mass Block 1: 1,200 t (2,600,000 lb) Block 2: 1,500 t (3,300,000 lb) Powered by 3 × Raptor engines 3 × Raptor vacuum engines Maximum thrust 12,300 kN (2,800,000 lbf) Specific impulse SL: 327 s (3.21 km/s) vac: 380 s (3.7 km/s) Propellant CH4 / LOX
[edit on Wikidata]

Starship is a two-stage, fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by American aerospace company SpaceX. Currently built and launched from Starbase in Texas, it is intended as the successor to company's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and is part of SpaceX's broader reusable launch system development program. When completed, Starship, in it's Block 3 configuration will be the first fully reusable orbital rocket of any weight class and have the highest payload capacity of any launch vehicle to date. As of 28 May 2025, Starship is in an iterative and incremental development and has launched 9 times, with 4 successful flights and 5 failures.

The vehicle consists of two stages: the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, both powered by Raptor engines burning liquid methane (the main component of natural gas) and liquid oxygen. Both stages are intended to return to the launch site and land vertically at the launch tower for potential reuse.^[11] Once in space, the Starship upper stage is intended to function as a standalone spacecraft capable of carrying crew and cargo.^[12] Missions beyond low Earth orbit would require multiple in-orbit refueling flights. At the end of its mission, Starship reenters the atmosphere using heat shield tiles similar to those of the Space Shuttle.^[13] SpaceX states that its goal is to reduce launch costs by both reusing and mass producing both stages.

SpaceX has proposed a wide range of missions for Starship, such as deploying large satellites, space station modules,^[14] and space telescopes.^[15][16] A crewed variant, developed under contract with NASA, is called the Starship Human Landing System, which is scheduled to deliver astronauts to the Moon as part Artemis program, beginning with Artemis III currently scheduled for 2027.^[17] SpaceX has also expressed ambitions to use Starship for crewed missions to Mars.^[18][19][20]

SpaceX began developing concepts for a super heavy-lift reusable launch vehicle as early as 2005, when it was called BFR (Big Falcon Rocket). Starship's current design and name were introduced in 2018. Development has followed an iterative and incremental approach, involving a high number of test flights and prototype vehicles. The first launch of a full Starship vehicle occurred on April 20, 2023, and ended with the explosion of the rocket four minutes after liftoff.^[21] The program has failed to meet many of its optimistic schedule goals and its development has had a number of setbacks, including four consecutive upper-stage failures in the first half of 2025.^[20][22][23]

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