SpaceX’s Starship generates more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V that carried humans to the Moon, yet after 13 test flights it still hasn’t demonstrated ship-to-ship refueling in orbit — one of the biggest technical hurdles standing between Starship and Mars.

SpaceX’s Starship generates more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V that carried humans to the Moon, yet after 13 test flights it still hasn’t demonstrated ship-to-ship refueling in orbit — one of the biggest technical hurdles standing between Starship and Mars.

SpaceX’s Starship V3 leaves its launch pad with roughly 18 million pounds of thrust. NASA credits the Saturn V with 7.6 million pounds at liftoff, meaning the current Starship stack produces well over twice the force of the rocket that dispatched Apollo astronauts towards the Moon. That comparison establishes Starship’s scale, not its readiness for Mars. SpaceX completed the vehicle’s 13th integrated test flight on 24 July 2026, but no two Stars…