SpaceX's Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever flown

SpaceX's Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever flown, standing 407 feet tall when its two stages are stacked.

Its lower stage, the Super Heavy booster, uses 33 engines to produce 18.1 million pounds-force of liftoff thrust.

The rocket is designed to carry large payloads and eventually people and cargo beyond Earth orbit, with SpaceX aiming to recover and reuse both stages.

For NASA's planned lunar landings, Starship will need to refuel in Earth orbit because the lander uses much of its fuel getting there.

The plan calls for a fuel depot to launch first, tanker Starships to fill it, and the lunar lander to take on fuel before the crew launches aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft.

The crew will meet the lander in orbit before it carries two people to the Moon and back, but the system depends on solving the difficult challenge of storing and transferring very cold fuel in space.