Ilon Musk: we can land a man on the moon in 2023

The head of SpaceX Ilon Musk is so dreaming of spacewhat is going to overtake NASA aerospace agency, and the first to return people to the surface of the moon. Musk believes that his company will be able to land the unmanned Starship spacecraft on the surface of the Earth satellite as early as 2021, and a year or two later - send a manned mission to the Moon with a crew.

"It sounds crazy, but I think we canto land the ship on the moon in less than two years. Of course, the first flight and landing of the satellite will be carried out in unmanned mode. So maybe a year or two after that we could send a team there already. I would say for four years [from now on], no more, ”said Musk in his latest interview with Time magazine.

According to Mask, NASA thinks long

In other words, estimated Mask, sending peopleto the moon aboard the SpaceX spacecraft will be possible as early as 2023, a year before the US state aerospace agency NASA is going to send the moon mission Artemis. Recall that in the mission crew to the moon for the first time in history a woman will fly.

Starhopper prototype on the left, Starship image of the future ship on the right.

Earlier it was reported that for the lunar NASA missionmay consider using a third-party rocket, such as SpaceX Falcon Heavy. But later, NASA director Jim Brydenstein stated that the State Space Agency will use its own Space Launch System (SLS) super-heavy rocket for the manned program to the Earth satellite.

In response to this, Ilon Mask expressed the opinion that hisIt will be easier for companies to send a rocket to the moon than to try to convince NASA that SpaceX can do it. By the way, NASA itself has not yet decided how much money it will need for the lunar mission in 2024.

Recent failures of SpaceX

Starship spacecraft not being developed by SpaceXfor flights to Earth’s satellite, but also for flights to Mars in the longer term. Recently passed not entirely successful engine tests of its prototype Starhopper. The ship enveloped a powerful flame.

Later, Musk on Twitter announced that the engine and the ship itself were in perfect order. The head of SpaceX also added that the following tests could pass as early as next week.

This is interesting: the SpaceX Raptor rocket engine broke the record of the Russian RD-180

Earlier this week, it also became known why the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft exploded this spring.

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