AI illustration: Starship lands humans on the Moon 'probably sooner' than 2024
SpaceXSpace
Missed

Starship lands humans on the Moon 'probably sooner' than 2024

“Probably sooner”
— Elon Musk · Aug 15, 2021 · Elon Musk on Twitter, August 15 2021, replying to the 'Everything Artemis' account asking whether Starship would be ready to land humans on the Moon by 2024 — verified via publish.x.com oEmbed ↗
What actually happened

No human has landed on the Moon. NASA's Artemis III crewed landing — which depends on Starship HLS — slipped from 2024 to 2025, then 2026, then to 2028 or later, with the GAO and NASA citing Starship development and orbital refueling as key drivers. As of mid-2026 Starship has not yet flown its uncrewed lunar-landing demo. Reuters — NASA delays crewed Artemis Moon missions again (Dec 2024) ↗

The Progression

Aug 15, 2021
The promise: “Probably sooner” · Elon Musk on Twitter, August 15 2021, replying to the 'Everything Artemis' account asking whether Starship would be ready to land humans on the Moon by 2024 — verified via publish.x.com oEmbed ↗
Dec 31, 2024
Deadline passed. No human has landed on the Moon. NASA's Artemis III crewed landing — which depends on Starship HLS — slipped from 2024 to 2025, then 2026, then to 2028 or later, with the GAO and NASA citing Starship development and orbital refueling as key drivers. As of mid-2026 Starship has not yet flown its uncrewed lunar-landing demo. Reuters — NASA delays crewed Artemis Moon missions again (Dec 2024) ↗
Today · Jun 12, 2026
Status: Missed · on time. Never happened.

Four months after SpaceX won NASA's $2.9 billion Human Landing System contract, Musk replied 'Probably sooner' to whether Starship would be ready to land humans on the Moon by 2024. Artemis III has since slipped repeatedly — to 2026, then 2028 or beyond — with Starship's orbital refueling milestones a chief cause. No crewed landing had occurred by the 2024 deadline or since.

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