The road to Mars is open: Elon Musk has returned the entire spacecraft to Earth. It will change space exploration forever.
Elon Musk's giant spaceship spent 22 hours in orbit before returning to Earth unscathed. It's hard to believe that less than a year ago, only a successful launch of a starship, without explosions, dust or noise, was considered a success. It is the starship that must resettle the first settlers on Mars. The dream became closer than ever.
It is clear that flights to the Moon and Mars will be financially profitable only if the spacecraft and carriers do not burn up completely, but are reused many times. In fact, this is why the entire system is designed to be reusable. And today everything worked out.
For the first time in decades, astronautics made a breakthrough. Having moved away first from burning ships, then from designs a la an airplane that lands on wings (and limited by mass), astronautics has caught the balance between cost and scope of projects. We will soon see what this will lead to outside of high profile missions as well.