I happened to view a youtube video about underrated classic science fiction movies. One of them was called ‘Rocketship X-M.’ As I watched, my mouth slowly dropped open. An awful lot of coincidences to unpack here! And are they just coincidences?

‘Rocketship X-M’ is a low budget science fiction film that debuted in 1950. It involves an experimental rocket that flies four men and a woman to the planet Mars. But I’m not here to discuss the movie. I want to focus on the rocket itself.

Here is the rocket on the movie poster:

Here’s a scene from the movie of the rocket having landed on Mars:

I think that if you’ve come to this site, you already know that SpaceX is the rocket company owned by Elon Musk. You already know that SpaceX is developing a rocket called Starship that is intended to fly to Mars. So let’s get to the point of this blog entry: Starship appears to have been inspired by Rocketship X-M.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Starship in real life with Rocketship X-M:

Both have a cylindrical body and are approximately the same size and configuration. Both have a pointed nose with two fins placed near the nose. Both are designed to land vertically. And just as Rocketship X-M went to Mars in the movie, Starship is intended to go to Mars in real life.

Bonus design coincidence: SpaceX Starship has a booster stage, so too Rocketship X-M:

So how do we account for these coincidences? Perhaps the science advisor on the movie was really good at rocket science and came up with a similar optimal design as SpaceX would come up with almost 75 years later. I’m open to other suggestions.

And yes, I know that ‘X’ is Elon’s favorite letter.