Okay here we go.
Space travel 2025 is honestly keeping me up at night lately and not even in a cute excited way—more like the “what the hell are we actually doing” existential dread mixed with little-kid-on-Christmas hype. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
I’m sitting here in my overheating apartment (the AC has been making this horrifying grinding noise since July, haven’t fixed it, classic me), blinds half-open so the streetlight bleeds in orange, scrolling through the latest Starship IFT-7 clips on my cracked phone screen at like 2:47 a.m. local time, and I just keep thinking: bro we might actually put boots on Mars before I turn 40. Or we might spectacularly blow up trying. Both feel equally likely right now. Space Travel 2025
Where Human Space Exploration 2025 Actually Stands Right Now
Look, I used to think NASA moved at the speed of government bureaucracy (which… yeah, still mostly true), but 2025 feels different. The Artemis program is lurching forward even though every single timeline has slipped at least twice since they announced it.
Artemis II—the first crewed Orion flight around the moon—is now targeting no earlier than September 2025.
→ Official NASA Artemis page: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis Space Travel 2025
I remember when they said 2024. Then early 2025. Now late 2025. My friend Miguel who works adjacent to the program just sighs every time I text him “so…… when?” and sends back the shrug emoji. That’s the level of confidence we’re working with.
But here’s the thing that actually makes my dumb heart race: even with the slips, the hardware is physically existing now. Orion capsules are welded. SLS boosters are stacked. It’s not PowerPoint anymore. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
Starship and the Chaos Children of SpaceX Space Travel 2025
And then there’s Starship.
God. Starship in 2025.
I’ve watched every single integrated flight test live since IFT-1 and I still can’t decide if I’m witnessing genius or the most expensive public fireworks show in human history. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
IFT-6 caught the booster in October 2024 and I literally screamed alone in my living room so loud my neighbor banged on the wall.
Then IFT-7 happened in January and they got even further before the RUD party started again.
But the progress is insane. Orbital refueling demos are actually scheduled for real in 2025–2026 window according to Elon’s latest X posts (take with industrial-grade salt obviously).
→ SpaceX Starship updates: https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/ Space Travel 2025
If they pull off even half of what they’re promising—dear lord. Reusable super-heavy lift at that scale changes everything. Moon bases start looking plausible. Mars cargo missions in the early 2030s stop sounding like sci-fi fan fiction.
I’m simultaneously terrified they’ll succeed (because holy crap we’re actually doing it) and terrified they’ll fail so spectacularly it sets the whole industry back a decade. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
That’s my authentic conflicted American brain right there.
Other People Trying Really Hard in Space Travel 2025
- Blue Origin finally flew New Glenn (January 2025 maiden flight—yes I stayed up for the webcast and yes I cried a little when it didn’t explode)
- Rocket Lab’s Neutron is creeping closer to first flight
- China’s actively building their lunar research station with Russia
- India wants to land humans on the moon by 2040 but they’re moving scary fast
- Axiom Space is literally building the first commercial station modules that will attach to ISS before it gets deorbited
It’s crowded up there now. I love it and I hate it. Mostly love.
My Embarrassingly Personal Space Travel 2025 Hot Takes
- I cried real adult tears when I saw the live feed of Starship booster catch. I’m not even slightly embarrassed about that anymore.
- I still don’t trust billionaires with the future of the species but damn if Musk isn’t accidentally forcing everyone else to move faster.
- Artemis is too slow and too expensive and I’m still rooting for it like it’s my hometown football team that’s 2–12.
- If we don’t have sustained human presence off-Earth by 2035 I’m gonna be legitimately sad.
- I bought way too much freeze-dried ice cream thinking it would make me feel like an astronaut. It just made me feel poor and lactose intolerant. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
Anyway.
Space travel 2025 feels like we’re standing on the edge of something enormous and nobody knows if the next step is solid ground or a 300-meter drop.
I’m choosing to believe it’s mostly solid ground. With occasional cartoon anvils falling from the sky. Because that’s basically where we are.
What about you? Are you losing sleep over booster catches and moon suits too, or am I just terminally online?
Drop a comment if you’re also irrationally emotionally invested in metal tubes full of exploding methane. I need community.
Catch you in orbit (hopefully). 🚀
