Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
SpaceX changed the game with Falcon 9, proving rockets could land and fly again instead of being thrown away. That success gave Elon Musk and his team the push to try something even bigger: Starship. Unlike Falcon 9, which is only partly reusable, Starship is designed so that every part comes back for another flight. If it works, it could launch huge payloads to the Moon and Mars at a fraction of today’s cost. But making the largest rocket in history fully reusable has proven far harder than expected.
Starship is paired with the Super Heavy booster, a massive first stage powered by 33 Raptor engines. Managing that many engines at once is a huge challenge. By comparison, NASA’s Saturn V Moon rocket had just five main engines, and even modern rockets like the Space Launch System use only four. Fewer engines mean fewer chances for something to go wrong. With 33 Raptors, SpaceX has to control fuel flow, ignition timing, and thrust balance with extreme precision. Even one misfire can damage the booster or end a mission.
Older rockets were meant to burn once from the pad until their tanks were empty. Starship’s booster has to shut down and then restart its engines mid-flight to land back on Earth. Restarting a rocket engine in the air is much riskier than lighting it on the ground. The Raptor design makes this even trickier because it uses two turbo pumps per engine—one for liquid methane, one for liquid oxygen—and both must start in perfect sync. Any delay or imbalance can cause overheating, fuel leaks, or a shutdown.
SpaceX changed the game with Falcon 9, proving rockets could land and fly again instead of being thrown away. That success gave Elon Musk and his team the push to try something even bigger: Starship. Unlike Falcon 9, which is only partly reusable, Starship is designed so that every part comes back for another flight. If it works, it could launch huge payloads to the Moon and Mars at a fraction of today’s cost. But making the largest rocket in history fully reusable has proven far harder than expected.
Starship is paired with the Super Heavy booster, a massive first stage powered by 33 Raptor engines. Managing that many engines at once is a huge challenge. By comparison, NASA’s Saturn V Moon rocket had just five main engines, and even modern rockets like the Space Launch System use only four. Fewer engines mean fewer chances for something to go wrong. With 33 Raptors, SpaceX has to control fuel flow, ignition timing, and thrust balance with extreme precision. Even one misfire can damage the booster or end a mission.
Older rockets were meant to burn once from the pad until their tanks were empty. Starship’s booster has to shut down and then restart its engines mid-flight to land back on Earth. Restarting a rocket engine in the air is much riskier than lighting it on the ground. The Raptor design makes this even trickier because it uses two turbo pumps per engine—one for liquid methane, one for liquid oxygen—and both must start in perfect sync. Any delay or imbalance can cause overheating, fuel leaks, or a shutdown.
