Elon Musk tells SpaceX staff to make Starship rocket 'top priority'

Elon Musk has told his SpaceX staff to make Starship spacecraft top priority and speed up progress on the super-heavy rocket marred by turbulent testing in recent months.

In an internal email accessed by CNBC, Musk urged SpaceX employees to accelerate progress on its next-generation Starship rocket.

Starship is the heaviest rocket for space tourism and long-distance trips and represents a truly reusable rocket with fast turnaround times that make spaceflight more accessible.

But the Starship prototype has faced four failed tests since the project began late last year.

"Please consider the top SpaceX priority (apart from anything that could