SpaceX's Starship test flight to orbit in January

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington. SpaceX aims to launch its futuristic, bullet-shaped Starship to orbit in January 2022, followed by about a dozen other test flights next year. Musk provided the update Wednesday night, Nov. 17, 2021, during a space science conference held virtually. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Elon Musk announced that SpaceX plans to attempt the first orbital test flight of its Starship spacecraft in January 2022, though he admits there's a lot of risk associated with the first launch. He's confident Starship will reach orbit in 2022, after around a dozen or so orbital test flights. Musk said that SpaceX would start launching valuable payloads to orbit on Starships in 2023. NASA has contracted with SpaceX to use Starship to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2025, and Musk plans to use the reusable ships to eventually land people on Mars. Musk envisions needing 1,000 Starships to make life truly multiplanetary.