SpaceRocket

Starship vs Saturn V

The Saturn V set the super heavy-lift record in 1967; Starship is the first rocket since to exceed it — taller, more than twice the liftoff thrust, and the largest flying object ever launched. But the comparison that matters is not size: it is philosophy. The Saturn V was the pinnacle of expendable engineering, thirteen flights, thirteen successes, every stage discarded. Starship is designed around the opposite premise — full and rapid reuse of both stages, with flight tests that iterate in public, explosions included.

The Saturn V flew humans to the Moon nine times and never lost a crew. Starship, still in its test campaign, has yet to fly an operational mission. The table below contrasts the most successful rocket ever built with the most ambitious one ever attempted.

SpaceX Starship full stack on the Starbase launch mount
SpaceX Starship full stack on the Starbase launch mount — SpaceX
Starship lifting off from Starbase during its eleventh flight test
Starship lifting off from Starbase during its eleventh flight test — Shujianyang, CC BY-SA 4.0
Starship and Super Heavy booster during testing at Starbase, February 2023
Starship and Super Heavy booster during testing at Starbase, February 2023 — Mobilus In Mobili, CC BY-SA 2.0
Saturn V lifting off on the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission
Saturn V lifting off on the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission — NASA
Apollo 17 Saturn V launching at night, the last crewed Saturn V flight
Apollo 17 Saturn V launching at night, the last crewed Saturn V flight — NASA
Apollo 17 Saturn V rolling out to the launch pad
Apollo 17 Saturn V rolling out to the launch pad — NASA
Metric
Starship
Starship

SpaceX · American

Saturn V
Saturn V

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · American

LEO Capacity(kg)
100,000
140,000
GTO Capacity(kg)
—
—
Height(m)
124.4
110.6
Diameter(m)
9
10.1
Launch Mass(t)
5,000
2,970
Total Launches
0
13
Success Rate
—
92%
Landing Success
—
—
StatusActiveRetired
ReusableExpendableExpendable

Head-to-head charts

Payload capacity(metric tons)

Size

Launch record

The short answer

The Saturn V proved what perfect expendable engineering achieves; Starship is betting the next half-century on the opposite idea. History's biggest rocket versus its biggest experiment.

Read the in-depth article →Open in the interactive compare tool →Browse the rocket library →

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Data: Launch Library 2 (TheSpaceDevs) — served from the SpaceRocket launch database.