Musk: SpaceX Is Prepping for 2026 Mars Landings

Elon Musk's long-held dream for his SpaceX spacecraft to make it to Mars appears to be ever closer to coming to fruition, at least according to Musk. In a weekend post on X, the social media platform he owns, Musk noted that "the first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens"—meaning a 2026 takeoff date. Space.com notes that the window Musk speaks about refers to the Earth-Mars alignment for such a mission every 26 months. Those missions "will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars," he added.

Musk then noted that, "if those landings go well," the first manned SpaceX flights to Mars will take place in 2028, reports Fox Business. "Flight rate will grow exponentially from there, with the goal of building a self-sustaining city in about 20 years," Musk continued in his tweet. "Being multiplanetary will vastly increase the probable lifespan of consciousness, as we will no longer have all our eggs, literally and metabolically, on one planet." Starship has run four test missions to date: in April and November of last year, and in March and June of this year. (More SpaceX stories.)