Sep 22 (Reuters)—SpaceX’s Musk said on x social media that the company plans to make the first unmanned test flight and about four other uncrewed flights to Mars within the next two years. Musk last stated that the first of the Spaceships to Mars will be launched within the next two years “when the next Earth-Mars transfer window is available.”

During the Sunday briefing, the CEO revealed that the outcome of the upcoming uncrewed missions will determine the first crewed mission schedule. If the uncrewed missions land safely, crewed missions will be launched in approximately four years.

However, according to Musk, in the event of a challenge, it will be delayed by two more years. Musk, in the same interview in the same year, hinted that the first starship without any personnel on board will be in the next five years and the first humans to Mars will be within seven years.

The Starship rocket from Musk’s SpaceX dodged a fireball in June and has now also recorded the culmination of its encouraging landing in the Indian Ocean. Finally, after four attempts, it tested a full global orbit mission.

Musk plans to develop Starship into an elongated, multistage, and versatile next-gen spaceship for Martian travel and lunar tourism. He wants to take it to space this year and transport people and payloads in the second half of this decade.

Earlier this year, it postponed the Artemis 3 mission and its first crewed moon landing in over five decades aboard SpaceX’s Starship to September 2026. As per NASA, it was earlier slated for the fourth quarter of the last year, i.e., the fiscal 2025.

In June, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa stated that he had actually called off a lunar flyby contract he had paid for with SpaceX. The reason for this was some undisclosed scheduling with the rocket that necessitated the use of the Starship launch vehicle.