Billionaire Elon Musk has unveiled a spacecraft which he claims is capable of carrying humans to Mars, or anywhere else in the solar system, and return to Earth.
In a livestreamed speech from SpaceX’s launch facility in southern Texas the entrepreneur behind Paypal and Tesla said that the space programme’s Starship is set to take off within the next two months and reach 65,000 feet – more than 12 miles – before landing back on earth.
Musk’s space venture is just one of the futuristic endeavours he is currently pursuing, with a “brain-machine interface” in the works and proposals of an expansive underground tunnel system built for cars in a bid to evade LA’s traffic problems.
Discussing his latest spaceship, Musk described the ability to reuse a craft as essential to the viability of space travel, and said it was important to take steps to extend human consciousness beyond our own planet.
A crowd watched as he spoke from a stage in front of the large spacecraft, which has a reflective, metal exterior.
Musk also said Saturday marked the 11th anniversary of a SpaceX rocket reaching orbit for the first time.