Musk announces the first mission to Mars is set to launch next year!
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has announced plans to launch the first uncrewed Starship missions to Mars by late 2026, with the aim of testing landing reliability. If these missions are successful, the company intends to commence crewed flights approximately two years later.
This timeline aligns with previous statements from Musk, who has expressed ambitions to send uncrewed Starships to Mars in the next available Earth-Mars transfer window, which occurs every 26 months.
However, some experts, such as Robert Zubrin, a prominent advocate for Mars exploration, predict that human missions to Mars may not occur until around 2031.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft is central to these plans, designed for deep-space missions and the eventual goal of establishing a self-sustaining human presence on Mars.
