NATIONWIDE — SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave space lovers a first look at the company's new Starship spacecraft.
- SpaceX unveils new Starship at South Texas facility
- Spacecraft will be attached to Super Heavy rocket
- Expected to send billionaire around moon in 2023
- See Spectrum News' space coverage
Musk tweeted that the spaceship just finished assembly at the company's Texas launch site, a facility in Boca Chica, near Brownsville and the Mexico border.
Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @SpaceX Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering. pic.twitter.com/k1HkueoXaz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2019
Starship was built with hopes of sending humans to Mars one day.
Before it can be attached to a Super Heavy rocket however, it needs to be tested. SpaceX hopes to conduct short hop tests to see how the Starship handles launches and landings.
The new spaceship already has its first customer: a Japanese billionaire who has paid for a trip with other artists to go around the moon, estimated to happen in 2023.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Friday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying a cluster of Iridium satellites.