SpaceX Starship makes breakthrough ocean landing

For Elon Musk, Starship is key to realising his long-held ambition of taking people and supplies to Mars to build a human settlement. It will also assist his Starlink project which is establishing a global network of broadband internet satellites.

There are thousands of Starlink spacecraft in orbit already, but later models will be larger and heavier and Starship will be needed to get them to space.

Among the keenest observers of the test flights in Texas is Nasa.

Starship is critical to the agency's Artemis programme to put astronauts back on the Moon this decade. A version of Starship would act as the landing craft, taking the crew from lunar orbit down to the surface - and then lifting them back off again. SpaceX, however, will first have to show it can produce a safe and reliable vehicle before astronauts are permitted to climb aboard.

Nasa has scheduled late 2026 for when it would like to see boots back on the lunar surface.

"Congratulations @SpaceX on Starship's successful test flight this morning! We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis - then looking onward to Mars," said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson.