Martin Barstow

What made the test different from those that came before it is that for the first time, uh, Starship reached Earth's orbit, a major milestone after years of suborbital test flights.

This is an important milestone for SpaceX, with Starship successfully reaching orbit and at the first attempt, said astrophysicist Martin Barstow of the University of Leicester.

Uh, it marks the beginning of the transition from the testing and development phase to becoming a working vehicle able to deliver the large payloads needed to return to the Moon.

Starship will eventually place the other vehicles used by SpaceX, or replace them rather, uh, the other vehicles used by SpaceX, and will be fully reusable, theoretically making spaceflight cheaper than ever despite its enormous size, making it rather too large for many routine missions.