SpaceX still believes that humans can land on Mars in 2030, and the rocket to achieve this journey will enter orbit for the first time as soon as next month "We should put people on the surface of Mars in this decade," Gynne shotwell, President and CEO of SpaceX, told CNBC. "Landing on the moon is faster."
The timetable reiterates the prediction given by the company's founder Elon Musk in March, when he said he hoped to see people on the red planet by 2029. He once hoped to send humans to our neighbors as early as 2024, but as musk himself often admits, his goals often deviate.
As for the moon, NASA has signed a contract with SpaceX to use its starship rocket to send aretemis astronauts to the lunar surface. People will see this happen as soon as 2025.
Shotwell added that she believed that a successful inorganic crew mission to Mars could inspire enthusiasm for conventional flights. "I think we need to carry out large-scale transportation to the surface of Mars, and then people will start to think harder about it, and then I think in five or six years, people will see that it will be a real place."
The potential window for launching such payloads to the red planet exists at the end of 2024 and 2026.
Shotwell also disclosed on Thursday that starship's next test flight should take place in June or July.
Recently, the US FAA postponed the target date of completing the environmental review required for the launch to the end of May. In the planned mission, starship and a super heavy booster will be launched from Texas and quickly put into orbit before a soft landing off the coast of Hawaii. Meanwhile, the booster is expected to try to land on an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico.