Elon Musk: Starship Will Double Saturn V's Payload—and It’s Reusable

Elon Musk: Despite being fully reusable, Starship will have twice the payload of the Saturn V.

“Starship is fully reusable, but will have twice the payload to orbit of the next biggest rocket that made it to orbit, which is the Saturn V.

In fact, without reusability, Starship would have about 400 tons of payload to orbit. So, it's a very big rocket this is what I'm saying. But you need a big rocket, to make life multiplanetary.”

SpaceX Update: The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary, May 29, 2025