Musk—who has a history of setting unrealized goals for his companies—says he wants to send humans to Mars by 2029, though he says 2031 may be more likely.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his Starship rocket will head to Mars by the end of next year, as the company investigates several recent explosions in flight tests. Human landings could begin as early as 2029 if initial missions go well, though "2031 was more likely", he added in a post on his social media platform X.

Despite recent failures, Elon Musk insisted the world's most powerful rocket will soon blast off to the Red Planet. The tech billionaire said human landings could begin before the end of the decade.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said on Friday that Starship is set to depart for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Tesla humanoid bot Optimus. Musk suggested in a post on X that human landings could begin as early as 2029,

Elon Musk says SpaceX will go to Mars at the end of 2026 with Tesla's Optimus, a humanoid robot. If all goes well, humans could be headed to the red planet in 2029, Musk says.

Elon Musk boldly claimed he could land humans on Mars "as soon as 2029." "Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus," the SpaceX CEO wrote in an X post shared on Saturday, referring to the space technology company's launch vehicle and Tesla's robot.