Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also known as SpaceX, has made a number of headlines over the past couple of years. Elon Musk founded SpaceX on March 14, 2002, and has had impressive breakthroughs in the rocket industry. One of the main focuses the company had was to make a reusable rocket booster to cut down the costs of transporting goods and people to space. 

In the years 2006-2008, the company started to test its Falcon 1 rocket which was an expendable rocket, which could not be reused. These first 3 launches all resulted in failures leading to the company and Elon Musk’s near bankruptcy. The fourth launch was lucky a success and thus saved the company. After a second successful launch in 2009, the Falcon 1 was retired. SpaceX then started research and development on another larger type of rocket, the Falcon 9. 

During the years 2010-2012, the company received multiple contracts from NASA to reach different milestones including the successful and repeatable ability to launch the Falcon 9, successfully launching a capsule into orbit around the Earth, and an escape system for the capsule to protect astronauts in case of a rocket failure. Near the end of 2012, the company started development on the reusability of the Falcon 9.

In 2014-2015 there was rapid growth in the company. The company won and was awarded over a billion dollars for research and development. In December 2015 SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 booster for the first time proving that rocket reusability was possible. 

In 2019 the company announced they would allot money to a new rocket design, the Starship. Which, when it launches will be the largest, most powerful rocket in the world and will be reusable bringing the costs of transport down even lower. After many tests and prototypes, the first full rocket was assembled on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022, for the first time. Currently, the company is targeting December for the first launch of the new rocket, however, there have been multiple setbacks that have pushed this date back before, so we will know more as we get closer to the launch.

To get more information about launches and other statistics visit the SpaceX website at https://www.spacex.com/.