Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. The back-to-back failures have hampered Starship's development and put a tighter clock on the vehicle's expected operational start. NASA has contracted SpaceX to develop Starship as the lunar lander for the agency's Artemis 3 mission to return astronauts to the surface of the moon. That mission is slated to launch sometime in 2027. Before then, SpaceX has to land at least one uncrewed Starship on the moon and then successfully launch it back into lunar orbit. So far, Starship has not yet completed one full orbit of Earth. SpaceX's iterative process through Starship's development has earned the company praise for the speed with which the launch vehicle has matured, but also criticism over the optics that accompany a giant rocket breaking apart into hundreds of fireballs falling through the atmosphere. Fully stacked, Ship and the Super Heavy booster stand around 400 feet (122 meters) tall. Combined, they make up the world's largest, most powerful launch vehicle ever built, and are designed to be fully reusable. Musk has touted the vehicle as the answer to making human life multiplanetary, and has said SpaceX intends to begin launching Starships to Mars beginning in 2026. A diagram showing SpaceX's Flight 9 Starship mission profile. The flight should last just over 1 hour. (Image credit: SpaceX)