NASA's Starship and Falcon Heavy: The Future of Space Exploration

NASA managers are positive about Starship's recent test flight and design changes that will be incorporated into the next test launch. SpaceX is expected to launch a large number of Starships before entering the human landing system (HLS) contract, involving numerous tanker vehicles and a crewed lander. Booster 9 and a yet-to-be-confirmed ship are set to fly the next mission, with the former already known to sport a large number of improvements compared to the previous booster. The current NASA schedule calls for the uncrewed lunar demo mission to be launched in 2024, ahead of 2025’s Artemis III mission.