SpaceX history: Elon Musk’s 20 years old company shares 13 of its most important moments

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, stands beside a Falcon 9 launch.REUTERS/Mike Brown/Getty Pictures
SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. He has also invested a large amount of his fortune into the venture.



Elon Musk in his office in 2004. Paul Harris/Getty Images

Lori Garver, former NASA deputy administrator wrote that Elon was so offended by this act that he decided to start his own rocket company on the return flight. This was the spit that launched a hundred spaceships, Helen of Troy’s face.

Musk was in Russia at the time to make a deal for space rockets to be used on future missions to Mars. Musk originally wanted to build a greenhouse on Mars, the “Mars Oasis.”

Jim Cantrell, cofounder of SpaceX, also recalled the incident in a Channel 4 documentary aired May. Also, in a biography about Musk by AshleeVance, “Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”, Ashlee Vance wrote, “Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”

SpaceX was established in 2001 as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Musk’s rivalry with Russia has been ongoing for decades, eventually making SpaceX a competitor to Russia’s Soyuz rocket.

Sources: Insider. “Escaping Gravity”: My Quest To Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age.” “Elon Musk: Tesla and SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”

SpaceX’s first rocket, Falcon 1, was unveiled in 2005.



SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket is waiting for liftoff at the U.S. Military’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site. Tom Rogers/Reuters

Musk called the rocket Falcon, a reference to the Millennium Falcon in “Star Wars.” Falcon 1 was an expensive two-stage, orbital launch vehicle with an expendable design that cost around $100 million.

One year later, the company revealed its second spaceship, the Dragon. It was named after the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” from Peter, Paul, and Mary. Musk claimed that he chose the name because it was impossible to imagine what he wanted for the company.

The company was among the very few that attempted to launch a commercial spacecraft at the time.

Musk, who made millions from the sale of PayPal to eBay in 2000, had already invested a third his fortune in the space venture by 2006. Under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, the company received $278 million as well as funding from the United States Department of Defense for its first two Falcon launch.

Sources: Wired and NASA SpaceReview

SpaceX failed three launch attempts between 2006 and 2008. Musk said that this almost ended the company in 2008.



YouTube video of SpaceX’s third flight on the Falcon 1 with SpaceX on August 2, 2008.YouTube

SpaceX’s 2006 launch failed due to a fuel leakage and subsequent fire. Later inspections of the vehicle revealed that a fuel-line nuts had been corroded by nearby ocean spray. SpaceX changed its design to replace the aluminium hardware with stainless-steel.

The two subsequent launches completed the first stage of flight but experienced problems after separation which prevented the spacecraft reaching orbit.

SpaceX nearly went bankrupt due to the failure of its attempts.

Musk was also having financial problems at Tesla. According to Eric Berger’s book “Liftoff” about SpaceX, Musk was also experiencing “nightmares, screaming, and physical pain due to stress.

–Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) March 5, 2021

Sources: Space.com and SpaceX. “Liftoff Elon Musk and the Desperate early Days That Launched SpaceX.”

SpaceX’s fourth flight was the company’s last chance as funding was running out.



Elon Musk watches as the Falcon 1 rocket lifts off in September 2008. Axel Koester/Corbis via Getty Images

On September 28, 2008, the Falcon 1 launched from Omelek Island in Marshall Islands. This was also the first successful orbital launch by a privately-funded company. This marked a significant shift in an industry previously dominated government programs.

SpaceX made no major changes to the rocket between the third launch and the fourth, but it did increase the time between the first-stage burnout stage and the second-stage separation because the previous failure was attributed to a timing problem.

SpaceX has two stages for rocket launches. The booster is the first stage. It makes a huge push at a certain altitude before falling away. The second stage pushes the spaceship into orbit.

Musk said, “I mismanaged the first three launches.” Musk stated in an interview nine-years later that the first three launches had failed. “That was the last money we had for Falcon 1. The fourth launch was successful. It would have been, that would have been SpaceX’s final launch. We were blessed with that day by fate.”

SpaceX received additional funding from NASA and private investors after its first successful launch.

After its fifth launch, Falcon 1 was retired in 2009.

Sources: Space.com and CNBC. “Liftoff Elon Musk and the Desperate early Days That Launched SpaceX.”

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft was launched to the International Space Station by SpaceX in 2012.



REUTERS/NASA TV: The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo ship is placed in position to dock with the International Space Station May 2012.

It was the first commercial spacecraft that could deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), and it led to many more contracts between NASA, SpaceX.

Dragon 1 flew 23 cargo flights to ISS, before it was retired in 2020. SpaceX started developing Dragon 2 in 2014, a version that could carry both cargo and astronauts.

Sources: SpaceX. CNET. EndGadget

SpaceX suffered its second major setback in 2015, when the Falcon 9 exploded just two minutes into the flight.



The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies to International Space Station broke down shortly after liftoff.

Shortly after liftoff, the rocket was carrying supplies to ISS and broke apart.

The problem was traced back to a steel structure that held a helium pressure container and fell apart during liftoff.

In 2016, the Falcon 9 suffered a second failure when it exploded during the static fire pre-launch test.

Source: Los Angeles Times, NBC

A few months later, SpaceX was able to successfully recover the first stage of its rocket.



Remote cameras were set up by photographers to capture the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket launch from complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. AP Photo/John Raoux

SpaceX successfully recovered the first stage from another Falcon 9 rocket in 2016 via an autonomous drone ship, which was located in the Atlantic Ocean.

Musk stated that SpaceX can reduce its costs by recovering and reusing the first stage rockets.

Musk’s space venture offered to transport payloads via the first stage of its reused rocket for a 10% discount. In 2017, the company launched its first Falcon 9 reused Falcon 9.

Sources: CNBC and SpaceNews. The Washington Post

Musk sent a Tesla Roadster into orbit in 2018 using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.



SpaceX provides this handout photo. A Tesla roadster is launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket and a driver named Starman. It heads towards Mars.

A mannequin dressed in a spacesuit occupied the red sports car, which was nicknamed “Starman.”

As a test load, the electric car was sent into space. Musk stated that he wanted the dummy payload, at the time, to be “silliest thing” we could imagine.

It is still orbiting, making it the fastest ever sports car. The car’s journey to space is tracked on a website. According to whereisroadster.com, the Roadster had traveled over 200 million miles since December 20. It was moving at 6,473 miles an hour.

Source: CNN, whereisroadster.com

SpaceX reached a significant milestone in 2020, when it brought human spaceflight back home to the USA for the first time since years.



NASA via AP

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft was launched using its Falcon 9 rocket on May 30, 2020. It had two astronauts, Doug Hurley (left) and Bob Behnken (right). These men were the first to take off from a SpaceX rocket.

This was also the first US spacecraft to launch an astronaut into orbit since 1981’s inaugural space shuttle launch.

This mission was the result of NASA’s Commercial Crew program. It was created to encourage private launch vehicles development after NASA officially retired the Space Shuttle in 2011.

NASA later that year certified SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon human spaceflight systems for crew missions to and fro ISS. This meant the US no longer had to rely on Russia’s Soyuz rockets to transport astronauts to the station.

Source: Space.com, NASA

SpaceX’s Starship, which SpaceX hopes to build settlements on Mars one day, successfully completed a suborbital flight test without exploding in May 2021.



Four earlier prototypes of Starship exploded when SpaceX launched them (left), but the fifth one stuck the landing (right).SPadre.com/SpaceX

Musk’s long-term goals are to colonize Mars and build self-sustaining settlements. SpaceX will need a highly reusable and powerful rocket to transport enough people and materials to Mars. Starship-Super heavy is now available.

Musk’s Starship spacecraft is the foundation of his plans beyond Earth. NASA selected it to land the first astronauts onto the moon since 1972. Musk also described his vision of building 1,000 Starships that would fly regular shuttle trips between Mars and Earth.

SpaceX’s Starship project aims to make its second stage of the rocket reusable, something it did with Falcon 9’s initial stage. This would make the launch system completely reusable, something that has never been done before.

Starship’s development facility in Boca Chica in Texas was not easy. SpaceX started launching prototypes six miles high so they could fly and land in one piece. The prototypes that were launched in mid-air exploded into the landing pad or crashed into it 10 minutes after touchdown.

The fifth Starship, however, was able to land in one piece. This proves that SpaceX can reuse the second stage spacecraft from its Mars launch system. Musk stated that full reusability could reduce the cost of reaching outer space by “a factor 100 or more”.

SpaceX is currently working on Starship’s launch with its Super Heavy booster. This will propel the spacecraft into orbit. It is not yet clear when this historic orbital test flight will take place.

Source: Insider

SpaceX also launched Inspiration4, its first all-civil spaceflight that year.



(Left to right) Christopher Sembroksi, Hayley Arceneaux, Jared Isaacman, and Sian Proctor experience zero-gravity in a plane while training to go to space with Musk’s company.Inspiration4/John Kraus

Jared Issacman, a billionaire, chartered a private flight to space with three passengers on September 15, 2021. They spent three days in space. The Crew Dragon Resilience was launched from a Falcon 9 on September 15, 2021.

This flight was part of a charity effort to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and resulted in over $243 million in donations.

Spaceflight was the first mission without professional astronauts to orbit.

Source: Space.com

SpaceX has broken many records over the past 20 years, and is now one of the top private space companies in the world.



SpaceX Falcon 9.Getty Images

SpaceX set a record last year for the longest streak without an orbital launch failure or partial failure. The Falcon 9 launched 101 times without any problems.

The Falcon 9 was successfully launched 48 times by the space venture in October. This is the most launches of any single type of rocket in one year.

SpaceX is also one the most valuable private companies worldwide, valued at over $100 billion.

Sources: Guinness World Records and CNBC

SpaceX is not only a leader in rocket launches but also has a vast satellite network.



SpaceX’s Elon Musk (pictured right) is raising Starlink internet prices to all customers. Getty Images

With plans to launch 42,000 satellites in SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet network, the company has already launched more than 3,000 satellites into Earth’s lower orbit.

SpaceX launched Starlink satellites in 2019, and has now served over 1,000,000 users. Satellite internet was launched by several airlines and cruise lines earlier this year. It has been pivotal in the war against Russia for Ukraine.

SpaceX has split some of its work into The Boring Company, a subsidiary that plans to build underground transportation systems throughout several US cities.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Space.com

Business Insider has the original article.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
By: gkay@insider.com (Grace Kay,Morgan McFall-Johnsen)
Title: SpaceX history: 13 of the biggest moments for Elon Musk’s 20-year-old company
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/spacex-history-biggest-moments-elon-musk-2022-12
Published Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2022 14:10:00 +0000