Musk says SpaceX could land spacecraft on Mars in 3 to 4 years

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has said his company could land a spacecraft on Mars within the next three to four years.

The tech billionaire made remarks on Thursday during a virtual address at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he engaged in a one-hour question-and-answer session with Clay Mowry, the president of the International Astronautical Federation.

When asked about predictions for when Starship might achieve a crewless landing on Mars, Musk replied, "I think three or four years."

He elaborated on Starship's potential capabilities, envisioning scenarios like "breakfast in LA, lunch in London, dinner in Singapore, and then back in L.A. for bedtime."

"I think it’s sort of feasible within the next four years to do an uncrewed test landing there," Musk said.

While Musk emphasized not wanting to set expectations "too high," he conveyed his longstanding ambition for the Starship rocket to facilitate the landing of humans on Mars.