Elon Musk said SpaceX’s Starship could be one of the most consequential technological advances in history, comparing the vehicle’s potential to major evolutionary milestones and arguing it makes true rapid reusability possible. However, Starship has suffered multiple high‑profile test failures, and NASA is evaluating alternative vendors for lunar landing capabilities once tied to the rocket. Critics say Musk’s timeline and rhetoric remain premature until the system demonstrates consistent success.
Elon Musk Says Starship Ranks With Life’s Biggest Milestones — But SpaceX Faces Major Setbacks
Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Paul Harris / Getty Images
Elon Musk offered one of his most grandiose assessments yet of SpaceX’s Starship during a recent podcast appearance, arguing the rocket could rank among the most consequential technological advances in the history of life. His comments drew attention both for their scale and for the program’s very public technical challenges.
What Musk Claimed
Speaking with influencer Katie Miller, Musk said Starship represents a breakthrough in launch architecture, arguing it is the first design that makes true, rapid full reusability achievable. He went further to place the development on a sweeping historical scale, suggesting historians may one day list “life becoming multi‑planetary” alongside milestones such as the emergence of single‑celled and multicellular life.
“There’s a lot coming down the pipe... Starship. The degree to which Starship is a revolutionary technology is not well understood in the world,” Musk said.
Technical Reality and Program Setbacks
Those claims come amid a series of high‑profile test failures for Starship. Several prototype flights ended in explosions during ascent or landing attempts, and some tests failed to achieve the program’s reuse objectives. Those setbacks have prompted NASA to investigate alternative contractors for aspects of its Artemis lunar landing architecture that had previously been expected to rely on SpaceX’s vehicle.
Why It Matters — And Why Skepticism Remains
Making human life multi‑planetary would be a historically significant achievement if it succeeds. However, critics and independent observers note that Musk has repeatedly pushed aggressive timelines for crewed Mars flights for more than a decade, and the program has yet to demonstrate reliable, routine operations. The current gap between Musk’s rhetoric and Starship’s demonstrated performance is the core reason many consider his comments premature.
What’s next: SpaceX continues iterative testing of Starship while addressing engineering and regulatory hurdles. Observers will be watching whether future flights achieve the reusability and reliability milestones Musk describes.
