NAIROBI, Kenya – Elon Musk Eyes 2026 for Starship’s First Mars Trip, Despite Explosive SetbacksElon Musk isn’t letting fireballs slow him down—not when Mars is calling.
The SpaceX founder is doubling down on his ambitious goal: launching an uncrewed mission to the red planet by late 2026. In a new video update, Musk outlined a roadmap for Starship’s development, offering a mix of optimism, technical hurdles, and a 50-50 bet on achieving that target.
It’s a big swing, even for Musk. But if you’ve followed the SpaceX story, you know he doesn’t do small.
The proposed 2026 timeline conveniently matches a rare orbital alignment when Mars and Earth are closest—an interplanetary sweet spot that only comes around every two years. If Starship isn’t ready by then, Musk says, it’s a two-year wait for another shot.
But before dreaming of Martian sunsets, there’s a whole list of engineering challenges to conquer.
Chief among them? Perfecting in-orbit refueling—essentially pulling off a high-stakes cosmic pit stop before shooting toward Mars.
And then there’s the whole blowing-up-midflight issue.
On Tuesday last week, what was supposed to be a victory lap—Starship’s ninth test flight—turned into a flaming disappointment. Thirty minutes after liftoff, the massive rocket spun out of control and disintegrated. No livestream. No mission success. Just a fireball and a sea of data.
Still, Musk didn’t flinch. He took to X (formerly Twitter) shortly after with a classic Silicon Valley shrug: “Great data to review,” he posted, promising quicker test launches moving forward.
That’s on-brand for Musk, whose previous two Starship flights this year ended in even more dramatic explosions shortly after liftoff, scattering debris over the Caribbean and diverting commercial flights.
Despite all this, Musk is charging ahead. The first Martian voyage, he said, will carry Tesla-built Optimus humanoid robots as a simulated crew.
Humans could follow as early as the second or third landing. Ultimately, Musk envisions sending between 1,000 and 2,000 Starships to Mars every two years—enough to build a permanent, self-sustaining human city.
Yes, you read that right—a city on Mars.
And while Musk pushes ahead with SpaceX, NASA is still banking on Starship to return astronauts to the moon by 2027, marking the first lunar landing since the Apollo missions. That effort is expected to serve as a stepping stone toward a NASA-led human mission to Mars in the 2030s.
Meanwhile, Musk is stepping back from government bureaucracy. Just a day before unveiling the new Mars timeline, he confirmed he’s leaving his advisory role in the Trump administration to focus on his companies—Tesla, SpaceX, and the increasingly talked-about humanoid robotics arm.
It’s clear where his priorities lie. Mars is no longer a distant dream. It’s a burning ambition—emphasis on burning, for now.
