SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday expressed disappointment at the human race’s inability to land back on the moon despite the passing of about half a century since the last landing. Musk’s rocket-making company, meanwhile, is preparing for the third flight test of its Starship.
What Happened: The last time a person visited the Moon was in December 1972 on NASA’s Apollo 17 mission. 51 years have passed since and humans haven’t returned to Moon since.
“Only 66 years from first flight to landing on the moon, but now half a century has passed since the last moon landing,” Musk wrote on X, while adding that this ‘cannot be our high water mark.’
“Humanity should have a moon base, cities on Mars and be out there among the stars!,” Musk wrote.
The CEO’s post comes hours after his rocket manufacturing company posted pictures of Starship on the launchpad at Starbase, Texas. The flight vehicles were assembled on the pad for testing ahead of Starship’s next launch.
Starship’s second liftoff on Nov. 18 saw successful stage separation, but the booster experienced an explosion shortly afterward.
The spacecraft lost contact with SpaceX after reaching an altitude of nearly 150 kilometers, failing to complete the test launch’s goal of a round-trip flight to space with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Why It Matters: Despite this setback, Flight 3 appears to be on the horizon.
"Starship Flight 3 hardware should be ready to fly in 3 to 4 weeks," Musk wrote on X a day after the second launch, pegging the third launch for late December.
SpaceX’s Starship is a pivotal element in Musk’s vision of landing humans on the Moon and Mars. NASA too is relying on the success of Starship to land humans on the moon in the next few years under its Artemis program.
Illustration by Geena123 on Shutterstock
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