The Starship system is a fully reusable, two‑stage‑to‑orbit super heavy‑lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX. The system is composed of a booster stage, named Super Heavy, and a second stage, also referred to as "Starship"
The second stage is being designed as a long‑duration cargo and passenger‑carrying spacecraft. The spacecraft will serve as both the second stage and the in‑space long‑duration orbital spaceship.
The first prototypes made low‑altitude, low‑velocity flight testing of vertical launches and landings in 2019‑2020. On 9 December 2020, Starship prototype SN8 performed the first high‑altitude test flight, demonstrating most of the atmospheric re‑entry maneuvers.
Engine development started in 2012, and Starship development began in 2016 as a self‑funded private spaceflight project. Testing of the second stage Starship began in 2019 as part of an extensive development program to prove out launch‑and‑landing and iterate on a variety of design details, particularly with respect to the vehicle's atmospheric reentry.
