Early Saturday, the Starship V3 spacecraft successfully conducted a launch test, launching 22 Starlink satellites and then returning to Earth. It was the 12th launch test of Starship with the goal of it being used for NASA's Artemis Mission and to Mars through SpaceX's own mission.
Although Starship is not yet fully functional to carry crews to space missions, SpaceX has announced the first astronauts who will go around Mars using it. Chun Wang, a crypto billionaire, was announced as the first crew of this mission. However, SpaceX has not yet given a date when this mission will be carried out and who the other astronauts will go with Chun Wang.
SpaceX seems confident that the mission to Mars can be done even though the Dear Moon mission that wanted to go around the moon was previously canceled. According to plans announced in 2018, Dear Moon will carry Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and eight other crew members including DJ Steve Aoki and KPOP star TOP (Choi Seung Hyun) by 2023. After Starship failed to meet the given timeline, the mission was canceled by Maezawa in 2024.
