updates
NASA selects Starship to land Artemis astronauts
On April 16, 2021, SpaceX said NASA had selected Starship as the lander to return astronauts to the Moon, and gave early prototype and Raptor test counts.
Topics: space-civilization starship
This page is an original Muskularity summary. It does not republish SpaceX’s full post. Figures are the company’s statements on the cited date unless another primary link is named.
Summary
SpaceX said NASA had selected Starship to land the next astronauts on the Moon. The post’s historical frame is SpaceX’s: 24 people had walked there, and nobody had gone back since 1972. The lander is described as one piece of a reusable system that also launches, delivers propellant, and rendezvous, carrying crew plus the supplies for surface exploration. Avionics, docking, and displays are said to draw on Dragon and Falcon.
Development counts given for the period since January 2020: 10 Starship prototypes built; more than 60 Raptors made and tested; nearly 30,000 seconds of engine test time across 567 starts; six suborbital flights, of which two were 150-meter hops and four were high-altitude flights. Those counts are a snapshot from the day of the announcement.
The NASA release linked from the post is the agency’s own selection statement. Contract price and competitor details belong to that NASA document, not to a paraphrase invented here.
Key facts
| Fact | Label |
|---|---|
| NASA selection of Starship as the crewed lunar lander announced by SpaceX on this date | Company announcement; NASA release linked |
| Since January 2020: 10 prototypes, more than 60 Raptors, about 30,000 seconds and 567 starts | Company development snapshot |
| Six suborbital flights: two 150 m hops and four high-altitude flights | Company flight tally |
Why it matters
This is the award the Moon and Artemis page is built on. Later posts add Artemis IV and a milestone count. The engine and prototype numbers here are the 2021 baseline, not the 2025 tally in To the Moon and Beyond.
On this site
Sources
- SpaceX update, April 16, 2021 — Grade A, company post
- NASA selection release linked by SpaceX — Grade A, NASA
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