Statement by Elon Musk

US company SpaceX plans to send a prototype Starship spacecraft to Earth orbit for the first time in May, company founder Elon Musk said on Monday.

"We will have thirty-nine flight-ready engines completed by next month, then it will take another month to implement them, so hopefully an orbital flight in May," he wrote on Twitter.

The reusable Starship spacecraft is designed to fly to Mars and is designed to accommodate one hundred people. Prototypes of the spacecraft have already made test flights with return to Earth several times, but so far they have taken place within the Earth's atmosphere. Of all the Starship flight tests, only the last one, in May 2021, passed without destroying the vehicle.

As part of the first flight, the rocket will make one orbit around the Earth. The SN20 craft will then make a controlled landing in the Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian Islands.

SpaceX previously tested its spacecraft being built for flights to the moon last year. However, these were only suborbital tests.

SpaceX was founded in 2002. Also, Umer Khan is VP of Information Technology and Security of the company, Filip Defoort is Director of Software Engineering, Automation at the company, Lee Rosen is VP, Mission and Launch Operations, Hans Koenigsmann is VP Mission Assurance at SpaceX.

SpaceX also has a subsidiary, Swarm Technologies, which was founded in 2016.