NASA officially adds SpaceX's giant Starship megarocket to its launch roster

SpaceX's Starship megarocket, the world's most powerful rocket, is officially on NASA's list for future launches.

NASA on Monday (March 31) announced that it has awarded SpaceX a launch services contract for Starship that adds the giant rocket to the private company's roster, which already includes the reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters. The deal, called a NASA Launch Services II (NLS II) contract, allows SpaceX to pursue NASA launches on Starship rockets.

"The NLS II contracts are multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, with an ordering period through June 2030 and an overall period of performance through December 2032," NASA wrote in a statement.

NASA uses NLS II contracts to secure commercial launch services for a wide range of missions, including Earth-orbiting satellites, planetary probes and more. "These high-priority, low and medium risk tolerant missions have full NASA technical oversight and mission assurance, resulting in the highest probability of launch success," the agency said in the statement.

SpaceX's Starship vehicle, which stands 403.5 (123 meters) tall, is the world's largest rocket and is designed to be fully reusable. SpaceX has launched Starship on eight test flights since 2023, but has yet to successfully orbit the Earth or deploy payloads with the spacecraft. SpaceX launches the massive stainless steel rocket from Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas.

The company has successfully landed a Starship first-stage booster, called Super Heavy, several times by catching it in giant metal "chopsticks" at its launch pad. But its last two Starship test missions, Flight 7 and Flight 8, exploded when their Ship upper stages failed during ascent in January and March of this year.

NASA has picked a lunar version of Starship to land its Artemis 3 astronauts on the moon by 2027. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said he wants to use Starship to send people to Mars.