The moon is once again within touching distance

Elon Musk claims his Starship rocket will carry passengers to Mars within five years

- Richard Luscombe

It’s been an eventful month for Elon Musk. The world’s richest man and founder of Tesla and SpaceX was, controversially, named Time’s person of the year; became embroiled in a Twitter spat over his taxes with a politician he branded “Senator Karen” and got a bizarre haircut after splitting with his girlfriend, the pop singer Grimes.

In January, however, or a few weeks beyond if the gremlins of spaceflight choose to play with the launch schedule, could come an achievement to surpass anything Musk has done before.

The first orbital test launch of the largest and most powerful rocket ship ever built – SpaceX’s towering Starship – is seen by many as a pathway back to the moon for the first time in half a century and possibly the first vehicle to eventually land humans on Mars.

The project that began life in Musk’s overactive mind more than a decade ago is every bit as ambitious as his pronouncement this month: “I’ll be surprised if we’re not landing on Mars within five years.”

Starship will be the first spacecraft with fully reusable components, reducing significantly the hitherto astronomic costs of space travel. It has an unprecedented in-flight refuelling capacity, allowing for more frequent and efficient operations.