Photo: Elon Musk/Twitter
2021 was an incredible year for space exploration, one history books will probably mention forever. After all, it’s not every day when not one, not two, but three billionaires and their relevant companies manage to send civilians beyond the Earth's atmosphere, opening the doors for space tourism and who knows what else.
As exciting as 2021 has been, the new year promises to be even more so. The highlight of the following few months will of course be the launch of Artemis I, the first mission in a program that aims to create a constant human presence on and around the satellite.
But one of the three billionaires who made history in 2021, Elon Musk, is planning something that may end up, decades from now, being even more important for our race: the first orbital flight of the Starship.
Starship is essentially the tool Musk plans to use to send humans to the Moon as well, but that’s just a pit stop towards an even greater goal: sending humans to Mars, and bring them back safely.
Throughout 2021, Starship prototypes took flight and most of them spectacularly crashed as they attempted their tricky and dangerous descent maneuver. One eventually managed to fly and land safely, opening the doors to this year’s orbital attempt.
It is said the launch may happen as soon as this month, despite the FAA saying it expects to complete its environmental impact analysis for the launch at the end of February, seemingly pushing the launch into March.
Whenever the launch may be, we’re getting near, and Elon Musk himself decided to agitate us some more by showing us a short preview of the Starship launch and catch tower. It’s a dolly shot kind of footage, with an airborne camera slowly moving away from the tower to reveal the massive structure.
You can enjoy all that in the tweet attached below.
But one of the three billionaires who made history in 2021, Elon Musk, is planning something that may end up, decades from now, being even more important for our race: the first orbital flight of the Starship.
Starship is essentially the tool Musk plans to use to send humans to the Moon as well, but that’s just a pit stop towards an even greater goal: sending humans to Mars, and bring them back safely.
Throughout 2021, Starship prototypes took flight and most of them spectacularly crashed as they attempted their tricky and dangerous descent maneuver. One eventually managed to fly and land safely, opening the doors to this year’s orbital attempt.
It is said the launch may happen as soon as this month, despite the FAA saying it expects to complete its environmental impact analysis for the launch at the end of February, seemingly pushing the launch into March.
Whenever the launch may be, we’re getting near, and Elon Musk himself decided to agitate us some more by showing us a short preview of the Starship launch and catch tower. It’s a dolly shot kind of footage, with an airborne camera slowly moving away from the tower to reveal the massive structure.
You can enjoy all that in the tweet attached below.
Starship launch & catch tower pic.twitter.com/5mLIQwwu0k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2022
Google News