Arrival in early-to-mid December 2028 would place the spacecraft at Mars during northern hemisphere spring, providing favorable conditions for solar power and avoiding dust storm seasons.

The rest of the 400 landings have come courtesy of SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy, whose first stage consists of three modified Falcon 9 boosters. (The Heavy can notch three landings on a single mission, but it has flown just 11 times to date.)

In his prepared remarks, Trump, a longtime backer of U.S.-led space exploration and exploitation, singled out Mars and left the moon hanging.

SpaceX has delivered a new animated look at the launch of Starship to Mars. See the launch, Super Heavy booster re-entry and 'chopsticks' capture, on-orbit fueling and journey to the surface of the Red Planet.

President Trump pledges in inaugural address to pursue policy that 'expands our territory' and to put US astronauts on Mars.

President Donald Trump's new administration is likely to do away with the White House's National Space Council, a cabinet policy panel that lobbyists at Elon Musk's SpaceX have been pushing to axe, according to three people familiar with the plans.

"Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts," Trump says.

President Trump vowed to send American astronauts to the planet Mars in his inaugural address, envisioning a moment when the U.S. flag is planted on Martian soil. “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars,

During his second inauguration speech, President Donald Trump endorsed a Mars mission as a part of America’s push into new horizons.

While SpaceX lost the upper stage of its new Starship in a flight test, the futuristic spacecraft presages a spaceflight revolution, says a leading U.S. space scholar.

With Donald Trump now back in the White House, SpaceX's Elon Musk is more excited than ever about the prospect of his company putting the first humans on Mars.