SpaceX to take humans to Mars in next 20-30 years? Elon Musk claims it’s possible

In an exclusive interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said that humans will be able to travel to Mars in the next 20-30 years. “SpaceX will take anyone who wants to go to Mars,” he claimed.

“We would be able to take astronauts to Mars. In fact, we want to take anyone who goes to Mars," he said, adding, “that is the long-term goal of the company."

When asked how long it could take for the company to accomplish this, he said, “I think we could do it in 20-30 years.”

Splashdown for Sunita Williams, Crew-9

It was SpaceX's Dragon aircraft that brought NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, along with two other astronauts, back to Earth on Wednesday, after being stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months.

In a post shared on X, Elon Musk congratulated the team and thanked US President Donald Trump for prioritising the mission.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams arrived at the ISS last June on a Boeing spacecraft with plans to spend roughly a week in space. However, that brief trip turned into roughly nine months when NASA decided in August the pair would come home on a rival SpaceX capsule instead due to technical issues with their Boeing vehicle.

Their saga became an international spectacle, with some media outlets dubbing them the “stranded” astronauts — a nod to NASA’s reluctance to have them fly home in their original spacecraft.

Mission to Mars

Musk said on March 15 that its massive Starship rocket would leave for Mars at the end of 2026 with Tesla humanoid robot Optimus onboard, adding that human landings could follow "as soon as 2029."

"Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus. If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely," Musk said on his X social network.

Starship – the world's largest and most powerful rocket – is key to Musk's long-term vision of colonising Mars.

Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall – about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty – Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable.

NASA is also awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis programme, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.

But before SpaceX can carry out those missions, it must prove the vehicle is reliable, safe for crew and capable of complex in-orbit refuelling – critical for deep space missions.