--- title: "Elon Musk in Leaked Email: Starship Now “Top SpaceX Priority”" description: "In an email obtained by CNBC, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told his space company's staff that they should \"please consider the top SpaceX priority to be Starship.\"" date: "2020-06-08" modified: "2020-06-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-leaked-email-starship-now-top-spacex-priority" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "crew dragon" - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk in Leaked Email: Starship Now “Top SpaceX Priority” ![In an email obtained by CNBC, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told his space company's staff that they should "please consider the top SpaceX priority to be Starship."]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Priority Number One In an internal email [obtained by *CNBC*](), SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told his space company's staff that they should "please consider the top SpaceX priority (apart from anything that could reduce Dragon return risk) to be Starship." Musk called for progress to be accelerated on the project "dramatically and immediately," and even offered up a "dedicated SpaceX aircraft to shuttle people" to the Starship development site in Texas — effectively turbocharging his plans to use the craft to fly astronauts to the Moon and Mars. ## Safe Return SpaceX [successfully launched]() NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station last month in its Crew Dragon spacecraft. The two test pilots have yet to make their return journey through the Earth's atmosphere — a leg of the historic mission that comes with its own risks. Starship, however, is a far more grand endeavor. The company plans to construct a massive, towering spacecraft that will one day be capable of ferrying up to [100 passengers to the Moon and Mars]() — if everything goes according to plan. ## Fireball That'll be a lot of work. A mere day before the historic Crew Dragon launch in Florida last month, a different SpaceX team based in Texas experienced a dramatic setback: the fourth Starship prototype, called SN4, [was eviscerated]() during a fuel test, blowing up in a huge fireball. But the good news is that work is already underway for its replacement. "SpaceX got a lot further with SN4 than previous vehicles, and SN5 seems about [ready to go for testing](),” senior space editor at *Ars Technica* Eric Berger wrote in [a tweet]() at thetime. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk tells SpaceX employees that its Starship rocket is the top priority now]() \[*CNBC*\] **More on Starship:** *[BREAKING: SPACEX’S STARSHIP PROTOTYPE BLOWS UP IN HUGE FIREBALL]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()