Elon Musk Says SpaceX Eyeing To Launch Starship, 'The Biggest Rocket Ever Designed,' To Orbit In January

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday SpaceX plans to fly its fully reusable, biggest rocket Starship to orbit in January.

What Happened: SpaceX’s first attempt to launch the Starship in orbit would be followed by many more such flights throughout the year, Musk said at a live streamed event conducted jointly by the Space Studies Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy.

​”It is truly the biggest rocket ever designed and we are very close to our initial orbital launch,” Musk said.

“We have done several little flights and are able to land the vehicle successfully. We will do a bunch of tests in December and hopefully launch in January.”

Musk said SpaceX’s Raptor engines would power the first-stage booster and the Starship. 

SpaceX aims for Starship to replace its existing rockets — Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon 2 — and be able to carry much more mass into orbit. 

See Also: Elon Musk Says SpaceX's Starship Fleet Can Deliver 1,000 Times More Payload Than All Rockets On Earth Combined

Mass-Transit Rocket: Musk dreams of colonizing Mars and founded SpaceX with the mission to make humanity multiplanetary. He has in the past said he remains “highly confident” that SpaceX would land humans on Mars by 2026.

Musk had in July said SpaceX is developing a fully-reusable Starship that can deliver a payload of around 150 tonnes to low Earth Orbit and about 250 tonnes when expendable. The ambitious transportation system can also carry humanity to the moon, Mars and make interplanetary travel possible.

"I think, in order for life to become multiplanetary, we'll need maybe 1,000 ships or something like that," Musk said.

Photo: Courtesy of SpaceX