Should the uncrewed ships land safely, Musk anticipates sending crewed missions to Mars during the 2028-29 launch window. If the tests don't succeed, the company will try uncrewed missions again in the 2028 launch window, and push the crewed missions back to the launch window after that.

Elon Musk dreams of colonizing Mars in his lifetime, but the clock is ticking—and he knows it.Such is evident from a recent string of X posts about the precise timing required for interplanetary travel and the pesky regulations standing in his way.

Musk said SpaceX plans to launch five uncrewed Starship rockets to Mars in 2026, followed by the first manned missions either two or four years later.