There is more on the line for Starship than just Artemis III. The rocket is set to transform the landscape of low Earth orbit by making launches easier. What may be the first private space station, Voyager Space’s Starlab, is slated to go up on Starship in 2028. Satellite operators have signed up with Starship, too, and SpaceX itself is hoping to use the launch vehicle to deploy its Starlink satellites.
By making space more accessible, Starship will also change what sort of science is possible in orbit. The James Webb Space Telescope, for example, had to be designed with lightweight materials that folded up to fit within its Ariane 5 launch vehicle. But if Starship’s large payload capacity and low cost had been an option at the time, NASA would have been able to build JWST simpler, faster, and cheaper. And while NASA has not said as much, its contracts with Starship are an investment. The space agency will likely rely on Starship as it works to establish an exploratory base on the Moon. As the rocket gets more advanced, it could then set the foundation for the eventual human exploration of Mars.
Starship’s to-do list
So far, Starship has flown four test flights with both booster and spacecraft attached. The first time, the rocket disintegrated after just a few minutes. The second time, it managed to separate the Super Heavy and Ship stages, but both exploded before finishing their missions. Only on the third test did Ship make it to space, where it successfully performed a few important tests before blowing up during re-entry. Finally, on June 8, 2024, the fourth and most recent flight test made it all the way back to Earth.