Right now it seems entirely possibly that the spaceports will be launch-ready long before the spaceships are; of the rocketโs first five high-altitude flights, three exploded on contact during landing and the fourth exploded a few minutes after landing. Theย fifth flight, which just took place a month ago, was explosion-free and thus successful. To get to the three-a-day launches Musk envisions, though, SpaceX will need a far better scorecard than one out of five.
On the plus side, the company did just hit a significantย milestone in reusabilityย when one of its B1051 boosters completed its tenth flight over the course of just 26 months.
And there are all kinds of plans in the works, from sending a Starship into orbit on itsย way to Hawaiiย to launching the โfull stackโ Super Heavy booster and Starshipย as soon asย July.
We canโt be sure that SpaceXโs plans will play out on the exact timeline given (which, in the case of the spaceports, is appropriately vague; โas soon as next yearโ allows for a solid 11 months or so of wiggle room), but the company thus far hasnโt had many issues with a lack of follow-through. That means itโs only a matter of time until we see rockets launching off converted oil rigs and heading for the moon, all corners of Earth, and Mars.
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