SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave an update on the company’s Starship rocket last week. In it, he stated that he was highly confident of an orbital launch this year.

Starship is SpaceX’s under-development super heavy launch vehicle, designed to support deep space exploration to the moon, to Mars and elsewhere in the Solar System.

When stacked on its booster the rocket system will stand 119m tall. It will be the tallest ever built, a full 8m above even the Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon.

The launch has been delayed by months as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) addresses over 18,000 public comments received on the Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment. The FAA had intended to release the final document on 31 December 2021, but the sheer volume of commentary has delayed the process.

To watch the full Starship update (75 minutes long), click here