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After successfully sending NASA astronauts to the ISS early last week, Elon Musk claims SpaceX’s number one priority moving forward should be on the engineering and production of its Starship

PHOTO CREDITS: TECH STORY

After successfully sending NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station early last week, Elon Musk claims SpaceX’s number one priority moving forward should be on the engineering and production of its Starship. Musk told employees in an email to “please consider the top SpaceX priority (apart from anything that could reduce Dragon return risk) to be Starship,” along with asking them to “consider spending significant time” working on the Starship (CNBC). Since early 2019, SpaceX has been working on its Starship design in Boca Chica, Texas to enable deep space travel to both the Moon and Mars. According to TechCrunch, the Starship’s 387 foot frame is able to carry both cargo and a 100 person crew into space. Additionally, it is designed to be completely reusable to not only reduce costs but also reduce material wasted in each flight. ~

In order for SpaceX’s Starship to reach deep space, the ship is designed to use the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket booster. In addition to finding the rocket booster needed to launch the Starship, SpaceX has also been testing different engines. The Raptor engine had early success and has led to the creation of subscale prototypes such as the “Starhopper” and full-scale prototypes and test vehicles. “SpaceX is now assembling SN5, the fifth prototype of Starship, to continue its testing — even while SN6 and SN7 are also under construction” (TechCrunch). ~

Musk’s goal with the Starship is to replace both the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy models of spacecraft. This will reduce costs by unifying its production lines and offering full reusability to maximize interplanetary space travel. Musk believes that the Starship will be the key to deep space travel and, eventually, commercial human space travel. In a series of tweets earlier this year, Musk shared details about his plan to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050 by launching 3 Starship rockets every day and creating ‘a lot of jobs’ on the red planet. By having SpaceX focus on this initiative moving forward, it seems as though this ambitious goal is taking one step closer to becoming a reality. ~

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