While the Starship program had only a small development team during the early years and a larger development and build team since late 2018, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made Starship the top SpaceX development priority following the first human spaceflight launch of Crew Dragon in May 2020, except for anything related to reduction of crew return risk.
Flight testing of the Starship second stage with its new-design Raptor rocket engine began in 2019 and has continued into 2021. The initial high-altitude 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) low-velocity testing phase of the second stage Starship had achieved successful controlled descents through the lower atmosphere and test landing by Q2 2021. An initial orbital test flight of the entire two-stage Starship system is planned for later in 2021.
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