Elon thinks a manned mission to the moon is possible by 2022.

This would be three years faster than NASA's current plans to use the ULA Space Launch System to get back to the moon. It would be two years faster than NASA's planned human moon in 2024.

Jeff DeWit, NASA's chief financial officer, told Business Insider that if Musk and SpaceX pull off a private moon landing in 2021 then NASA will partner with SpaceX and get there faster. It is unclear when SpaceX will have proven enough to NASA for them to finally make the shift.

Elon Musk said that it may literally be easier to just land Starship on the moon than try to convince NASA that we can.