SpaceX's Starship Program, which boasts the world's tallest and most powerful rocket, will one day put people in cargo on Mars. The most recent prototype, Ship 20, is awaiting an orbital flight. Several other prototypes have flown, ground tested, and even made testing mistakes in an effort to improve future flights. Here's a rundown of key events on Starship's journey to Mars. Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 after selling two previous businesses, the software service Internet Company Zip 2, and the online payment provider PayPal. His long-term goal was to establish a Mars settlement company. However, SpaceX has been very busy in other areas of space, the company has built dragon cargo ships and crew Dragon Astronaut spaceships for the International Space Station, as well as launched satellites for a variety of customers using the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Rockets. As for Mars, Musk periodically releases new far-out Mars visions for sending crews, cargo, and rockets. There were so many things to worry about, so many things to be concerned about. There are many troubles in the world, of course, and these are important, and we need to solve them. But we also need things that make us excited to be alive, that make us glad to wake up in the morning and be fired up about the future and think, yeah, the future is going to be great. And this space exploration is one of those things. And becoming a space-spring civilization being out there among the stars, this is one of the things that makes me glad to be alive. I think it makes many people glad to be alive. It's one of the best things. And there's really, we're faced with a choice. Which future do you want? Do you want the future where we become a space-spring civilization in our many worlds? And out there among the stars? Or one where we are forever confined to Earth? And I say it is the first, and I hope you're agree with me. Musk rebranded his Mars colonizing space flight system as Starship in 2018. Technically two parts, Starship is the spaceship and Super Heavy is the rocket booster needed to escape Earth's deep gravity well, Musk said in a 2018 tweet. Musk originally intended to build Starship out of Carbon Fiber, but in January 2019, he announced that the craft would be made of stainless steel instead. While stainless steel is heavier than Carbon Fiber, which increases the amount of fuel required for launch and thus the cost, Musk claims that stainless steel has better thermal properties for space flight and thus reduces the cost in the long run. Musk later stated that changing the design was the best decision he ever made for the project. So, the best thing about the steel is that it is heavy, no, actually it is the lightest construction. The steel is the best design decision on this whole thing is a 301 stainless steel. At cryogenic temperatures, a 301 stainless actually has about the same effect of strength as an advanced composite or aluminum lithium. Unlike most steels, which get brittle at low temperature, a 301 stainless gets much stronger. And if it is in the extra hard condition, meaning it is cold rolled to extra hard condition, it also gets way stronger. So, it actually gets, it strength the waste ratio at cryogenic temperatures is equivalent or even perhaps slightly better than advanced composites or aluminum lithium. Since 2019, Starship has undergone a few more design changes. Musk chose to install six Raptor engines rather than seven on the Starship vehicle. He also changed the number of Raptors on the Super Heavy, first dropping it from 37 to 31, then to 29, and then increasing it again to include up to 33 Raptors. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Mizawa, the founder of Japanese e-commerce giant Zozou, bought around the Moon Trip, dubbed Dear Moon, aboard Starship in September 2018. He plans to fly eight civilians and one or two crew members on a Starship rocket for a multi-date trip that would reach lunar orbit, with Mizawa saying he will pay for the entire journey. While Starship hadn't started testing yet, Musk said he expected it could be ready for the mission as soon as 2023. Dear Moon organizers announced in March 2021 that they were looking for up to eight crew members to fly around the Moon with Mizawa. As of December 2021, there have been no further announcements about crew members, implying that selection is still ongoing, and the mission is still scheduled to take off in 2023. The first Starship prototype Starhopper was a low altitude vehicle that resembled a flying tank, rather than an aerodynamic rocket. SpaceX conducted two static fire tests of the system at its Boca Chica facility to evaluate the engine's performance in 2019. On 25 July 2019, the Starhopper performed its first flight test, a hop of approximately 20 meters altitude, followed by a second and final hop on August 27, reaching an altitude of approximately 150 meters, in accordance with a limit imposed by the United States Federal Aviation Administration. The prototype landed about 100 meters from the launch pad, demonstrating the Raptor engines' first use in real-world flight. As of December 2021, Starhopper remained situated next to the launch area. Subsequent low altitude test hops were performed by Starship prototypes dubbed serial number 5 and serial number 6. SN5 reached an altitude of about 150 meters on 4 August 2020 and moved sideways in the sky to reach its landing area. SN6 also made a 150 meters jaunt on 3 September of the same year. Turns out, you can make anything fly, must tweet it about the SN6 flight. Starship prototype dubbed serial number 8, or SN8, took to the Aeron 9 December 2020, performed complex aerial maneuvers and flips during the program's first high altitude launch. It flew to 12.5 kilometers, but failed to stick the landing. The prototype exploded in a fireball on the ground due to lower than expected pressure in the header tank that holds propellants required for landing. In a quick sequence in February and March 2021, the Starship program launched three more prototypes, serial numbers 9, 10, and 11, into a high altitude flight. The vehicles flew for about 6 minutes each, but all three encountered technical difficulties during landing, resulting in fiery crashes or after touchdown explosions. After each flight, Musk tweeted about what went wrong and what changes he planned to make to Starship prototypes to improve the program for the next attempt. Starship serial number 15 was the first Starship prototype to stuck the landing. This milestone event coincided with the 60th anniversary of the United States' first ever crude space flight when astronaut Alan Shepherd blasted into space aboard NASA's Mercury capsule. On 5th May 2021, SN15 flew 10 kilometers into the sky and performed several maneuvers in mid-air. The prototype landed safely on a landing pad at Boca Chica six minutes after takeoff. This was the Starship program's most recent flight, as of December 2021. In a flight description, SpaceX representatives said several vehicle changes were present in the new prototype. SN15 has vehicle improvements across structures, avionics, and software, and the engines that will allow more speed and efficiency throughout production and flight. Specifically, a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the Aft-Skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration. In April 2021, NASA selected SpaceX's Starship over the competition for a $2.9 billion moon lander contract that is part of the Space Agency's Artemis program. With that mission, NASA aims to put astronauts on the moon sometime in the mid-2020s. NASA had hoped to select two companies for this stage of the contract, but the agency received less funding from Congress than it had hoped for its human landing systems. Blue Origin and Dynetics both ejected to the decision, but the government accountability office upheld NASA's decision in August 2021. The GAO acknowledged NASA's last minute decision to switch to a sole source contract, but added in its review, we nonetheless find no basis on which to sustain the protests, because the protesters have failed to establish any reasonable possibility of resulting competitive prejudice. SpaceX's first orbital-class Starship prototype, Starship 20, stood atop a super-heavy rocket booster for the first time on 6th August 2021, marking the tallest rocket ever built. Dream come true, Musk wrote on Twitter of the stacked Starship. The stacking test at SpaceX's Boca Chica factory, now known as Starbase, included mating the two vehicles for an hour, with the joint Starship System standing 120 meters. For comparison, NASA's massive Saturn V moon rocket, used for the Apollo missions, was just 111 meters tall. If all goes according to plan, Starship will make around the world trip to splash down off the coast of Hawaii in about 90 minutes after lift-off from Starbase. Meanwhile, the first stage super-heavy booster will return to Earth six minutes after launch, and the Gulf of Mexico. However, regulation remains the big uncertainty as Starship awaits its chance to make an orbital flight test. The FAA has undertaken an environmental assessment of the Starship's mission, which delayed SpaceX's plans to attempt the flight. The approval for an orbital launch hinges on whether federal regulators can determine that the super-heavy booster, which packs many times the amount of power as the spacecraft portion alone can launch from South Texas, without posing a significant threat to nearby property, people, or the surrounding environment. The FAA had said that it has a target date of December 31 to conclude the environmental assessment process. Only after that process is complete can the FAA move on to licensing an orbital Starship launch, which is expected to happen as early as January 2022. A successful orbital test flight will add yet another milestone to the Starship program. So, let's wait eagerly for that eventful orbital test flight, and in the meantime, do not forget to subscribe to this channel for more Starship-related content. And as always, thanks for watching!