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65-458: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. , commonly referred to as SpaceX , is an American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase near Brownsville, Texas . Since its founding in 2001, the company has made numerous advancements in rocket propulsion , reusable launch vehicle , human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. By the late 2010s, SpaceX had become

130-407: A Delta II rocket exploded 13 seconds after launch on January 17, 1997, there were reports of store windows 10 miles (16 km) away being broken by the blast. Space is a fairly predictable environment, but there are still risks of accidental depressurization and the potential failure of equipment, some of which may be very newly developed. Administrator of NASA The administrator of

195-453: A Falcon 9 exploded during a propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch static fire test . The payload, the AMOS-6 communications satellite valued at $ 200 million , was destroyed. The explosion was caused by the liquid oxygen that is used as propellant turning so cold that it solidified and ignited with carbon composite helium vessels. Though not considered an unsuccessful flight,

260-417: A booster from CRS-23 on it for the first time on 29 August 2021. Within the first 130 days of 2022, SpaceX had 18 rocket launches and two astronaut splashdowns. On 13 December 2021, company CEO Elon Musk announced that the company was starting a carbon dioxide removal program that would convert captured carbon into rocket fuel , after he announced a $ 100 million donation to the X Prize Foundation

325-432: A clause that would allow SpaceX to launch subsequent test flights without a mishap investigation, provided that they met a similar launch profile and used the same specification of hardware. The provision could prove to speed the development timeline. On 12 October 2024, SpaceX received FAA approval for Starship's 5th test flight. SpaceX launched Starship on its 6th test flight on 19 November 2024. A significant milestone

390-510: A crew transport vehicle to the ISS. NASA awarded SpaceX a fixed-price Space Act Agreement (SAA) to produce a detailed design of the crew transportation system in August 2012. In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of SpaceX stock was owned by Musk and his seventy million shares were then estimated to be worth $ 875 million on private markets , valuing SpaceX at $ 1.3 billion . In May 2012, with

455-603: A deputy administrator . The administrator is appointed by the president of the United States , with the advice and consent of the United States Senate , and thereafter serves at the president's pleasure. Former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson has served as the administrator since May 3, 2021. The administrator serves as NASA's chief executive officer, accountable to the President for the leadership necessary to achieve

520-658: A human-rated commercial space program through the end of the decade, a program that would later become the Dragon spacecraft . In 2006, the company was selected by NASA and awarded $ 396 million to provide crew and cargo resupply demonstration contracts to the International Space Station (ISS) under the COTS program . The first two Falcon 1 launches were purchased by the United States Department of Defense under

585-587: A perigee of 170 km (106 mi) and an apogee of 36,500 km (22,680 mi). Apollo 11 was followed by Apollo 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , and 17 . Apollo 13 had a failure of the Apollo service module , but passed the far side of the Moon at an altitude of 254 kilometers (158 miles; 137 nautical miles) above the lunar surface, and 400,171 km (248,655 mi) from Earth, marking the record for the farthest humans traveled from Earth in 1970. The first robotic lunar rover to land on

650-402: A private company building a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for communications with Internet of things (IoT) devices, for $ 524 million . In December 2022, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the launch up to 7,500 of SpaceX's next-generation satellites in its Starlink internet network. SpaceX has developed three launch vehicles. The small-lift Falcon 1

715-439: A short time. He gave a plenary talk at their fourth convention where he announced Mars Oasis , a project to land a greenhouse and grow plants on Mars. Musk initially attempted to acquire a Dnepr intercontinental ballistic missile for the project through Russian contacts from Jim Cantrell . Musk returned with his team to Moscow, this time bringing Michael Griffin , who later became the 11th Administrator of NASA , but found

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780-428: Is also developing its own space suit and astronaut via its Polaris program as well as developing the human lander for lunar missions under NASA's Artemis program . SpaceX is not publicly traded; a space industry newspaper estimated that SpaceX has a revenue of over $ 10 billion in 2024. In early 2001, Elon Musk met Robert Zubrin and donated $ 100,000 to his Mars Society , joining its board of directors for

845-500: Is believed to have orbited around the globe. Analysis of the radio signals was used to gather information about the electron density of the ionosphere , while temperature and pressure data was encoded in the duration of radio beeps. The first successful human spaceflight was Vostok 1 , carrying 27-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in April 1961. The entire mission was controlled by either automatic systems or by ground control . This

910-551: Is best known for pioneering the "faster, better, cheaper" approach to space programs. The only person to hold the post twice is James C. Fletcher , who returned to NASA following the Challenger disaster . The current administrator is former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson , who was nominated by President Joe Biden on March 19, 2021, confirmed by the Senate on April 29, and officially sworn in on May 3. The line of succession for

975-409: Is currently at a distance of 145.11 astronomical units (2.1708 × 10  km; 1.3489 × 10  mi) (21.708 billion kilometers; 13.489 billion miles) from Earth as of January 1, 2019. All launch vehicles contain a huge amount of energy that is needed for some part of it to reach orbit. There is therefore some risk that this energy can be released prematurely and suddenly, with significant effects. When

1040-764: The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program in 2006. The overall contract award was $ 278 million to provide development funding for the Dragon spacecraft , Falcon 9, and demonstration launches of Falcon 9 with Dragon. As part of this contract, the Falcon 9 launched for the first time in June 2010 with the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit , using a mockup of the Dragon spacecraft. The first operational Dragon spacecraft

1105-461: The DARPA Falcon Project which evaluated new U.S. launch vehicles suitable for use in hypersonic missile delivery for Prompt Global Strike . The first three launches of the rocket, between 2006 and 2008, all resulted in failures, which almost ended the company. Financing for Tesla Motors had failed, as well, and consequently Tesla , SolarCity , and Musk personally were all nearly bankrupt at

1170-769: The Dragon C2+ launch, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station . After the flight, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to $ 2.4 billion or $ 20 /share. By that time, SpaceX had operated on total funding of approximately $ 1 billion over its first decade of operation. Of this, private equity provided approximately $ 200 million , with Musk investing approximately $ 100 million and other investors having put in about $ 100 million . SpaceX's active reusability test program began in late 2012 with testing low-altitude, low-speed aspects of

1235-567: The Starship and Starlink projects. The purpose of the Starship vehicle is to enable large-scale transit of humans and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. SpaceX's Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown, with a payload capacity of 100+ tons. Construction of initial prototypes and tests for Starship started in early 2019 in Florida and Texas. All Starship construction and testing moved to

1300-504: The 3rd time and for the first time Starship reached its planned suborbital trajectory. The flight ended with the booster experiencing a malfunction shortly before landing and the ship being lost during reentry over the Indian Ocean. On 4 June 2024, SpaceX received the launch license for Starship's 4th test flight. The licensure itself was notable in that it was the first time that the FAA included

1365-701: The CRS contract with the NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier . SpaceX originally intended to follow its light Falcon 1 launch vehicle with an intermediate capacity vehicle, the Falcon 5 . The company instead decided in 2005 to proceed with the development of the Falcon 9 , a reusable heavier lift vehicle . Development of the Falcon 9 was accelerated by NASA , which committed to purchasing several commercial flights if specific capabilities were demonstrated. This started with seed money from

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1430-554: The California Secretary of State. The move to relocate SpaceX's headquarters was seen as largely symbolic, at least in the short term. The Hawthorne facility continues to support the company's Falcon launch vehicles, which was SpaceX's workhorse product in 2024. SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission featured the first-ever private spacewalk, marking a major milestone in commercial space exploration. In January 2019, SpaceX announced it would lay off 10% of its workforce to help finance

1495-575: The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to finalize the development of the Crew Transportation System. The contract included several technical and certification milestones, an uncrewed flight test, a crewed flight test, and six operational missions after certification. In January 2015, SpaceX raised $ 1 billion in funding from Google and Fidelity Investments , in exchange for 8.33% of

1560-399: The International Space Station. Also around that time, SpaceX started developing hardware to make the Falcon 9 first stage reusable . The company demonstrated the first successful first-stage landing in 2015 and re-launch of the first stage in 2017 . Falcon Heavy , built from three Falcon 9 boosters, first flew in 2018 after a more than decade-long development process. As of October 2024,

1625-557: The Moon was the Soviet vessel Lunokhod 1 on November 17, 1970, as part of the Lunokhod program . To date, the last human to stand on the Moon was Eugene Cernan , who, as part of the Apollo 17 mission, walked on the Moon in December 1972. Apollo 17 was followed by several uncrewed interplanetary missions operated by NASA. Also Technological innovations in space exploration have important effects on

1690-522: The Moon. On 18 November 2023, SpaceX launched its second integrated Starship test , with both vehicles flying for a few minutes before separately exploding. In early March 2024 SpaceX announced that it was targeting 14 March as the tentative launch date for its next uncrewed Starship launch configuration flight test, pending the issuance of a "launch license" by the FAA . This license was granted on 13 March 2024. On 14 March 2024 at 13:25 UTC, Starship launched for

1755-578: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA , the national space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible for providing clarity to the agency's vision and serving as a source of internal leadership within NASA. The office holder also has an important place within United States space policy , and is assisted by

1820-563: The Russians increasingly unreceptive. On the flight home, Musk announced he could start a company to build the affordable rockets they needed instead. By applying vertical integration , using inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf components when possible, and adopting the modular approach of modern software engineering, Musk believed SpaceX could significantly cut launch costs. In early 2002, Elon Musk started to look for staff for his company, soon to be named SpaceX. Musk approached five people for

1885-467: The agency's mission. This leadership requires articulating the agency's vision, setting its programmatic and budget priorities and internal policies, and assessing Agency performance. The first administrator of NASA was Dr. T. Keith Glennan ; during his term he brought together the disparate projects in space development research in the US. Daniel Goldin held the post for the longest term (nearly 10 years), and

1950-765: The capital raised since 2019 has been used to support the operational fielding of the Starlink satellite constellation and the development and manufacture of the Starship launch vehicle. By October 2021, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $ 100.3 billion . On 16 April 2021, Starship HLS won a contract to play a critical role in the NASA crewed spaceflight Artemis program . By 2021, SpaceX had entered into agreements with Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure to provide on-ground computer and networking services for Starlink . A new round of financing in 2022 valued SpaceX at $ 127 billion . In July 2021, SpaceX unveiled another drone ship named A Shortfall of Gravitas , landing

2015-472: The company achieved the first successful landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean. By October 2016, following the successful landings, SpaceX indicated they were offering their customers a 10% price discount if they choose to fly their payload on a reused Falcon 9 first stage. A second major rocket failure happened in early September 2016, when

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2080-477: The company had 160 employees. Musk personally interviewed and approved all of SpaceX's early employees. Musk has stated that one of his goals with SpaceX is to decrease the cost and improve the reliability of access to space , ultimately by a factor of ten. SpaceX developed its first orbital launch vehicle , the Falcon 1 , with internal funding. The Falcon 1 was an expendable two-stage-to-orbit small-lift launch vehicle . The total development cost of Falcon 1

2145-400: The company raised $ 350 million , which raised its valuation to $ 21 billion . In 2017, SpaceX achieved a 45% global market share for awarded commercial launch contracts. By March 2018, SpaceX had more than 100 launches on its manifest representing about $ 12 billion in contract revenue. The contracts included both commercial and government (NASA/DOD) customers. This made SpaceX

2210-467: The company's Falcon 9 rockets have landed and flown again more than 330 times , reaching 1–2 launches a week. These milestones delivered the company much-needed investment and SpaceX sought to diversify its sources of income. In 2019, the first operational satellite of the Starlink internet satellite constellation came online. In subsequent years, Starlink generated the bulk of SpaceX's income and paved

2275-412: The company, establishing the company valuation at approximately $ 12 billion . The same month SpaceX announced the development of a new satellite constellation, called Starlink , to provide global broadband internet service with 4,000 satellites. The Falcon 9 had its first major failure in late June 2015, when the seventh ISS resupply mission, CRS-7 exploded two minutes into the flight. The problem

2340-454: The company. Based on these factors and the further business operations they enabled, the Falcon 1 was soon retired following its second successful, and fifth total, launch in July 2009. This allowed SpaceX to focus company resources on the development of a larger orbital rocket, the Falcon 9. Gwynne Shotwell was also promoted to company president at the time, for her role in successfully negotiating

2405-513: The competition from SpaceX. Beginning in 2014, SpaceX capabilities and pricing also began to affect the market for launch of U.S. military payloads, which for nearly a decade had been dominated by the large U.S. launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA). The monopoly had allowed launch costs by the U.S. provider to rise to over $ 400 million over the years. In September 2014, NASA's Director of Commercial Spaceflight, Kevin Crigler, awarded SpaceX

2470-636: The crew of Apollo 8 , Frank Borman , James Lovell and William Anders , became the first human beings to enter lunar orbit and see the far side of the Moon in person. Humans first landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first human to walk on the lunar surface was Neil Armstrong , commander of Apollo 11 . The first space probe to land on moon South Pole of India. Chandrayaan-3 was launched aboard an LVM3-M4 rocket on 14 July 2023, at 09:05 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, entering an Earth parking orbit with

2535-471: The economy, create jobs, and promote environmental sustainability, helping the field continue to grow. One of the notable interplanetary missions is Voyager 1 , the first artificial object to leave the Solar System into interstellar space on August 25, 2012. It is also the most distant artificial object from Earth. The probe passed the heliopause at 121 AU to enter interstellar space . Voyager 1

2600-481: The economy, society, and the environment. Economically, new safety features and technology have made space missions cheaper. Using reusable rockets helps companies save money because they do not need to fix or replace rockets as often. This makes space exploration more affordable and encourages more people to invest in the space industry. Socially, these new technologies have created many jobs in areas like engineering, research, and aerospace manufacturing. The growth of

2665-415: The first large batch of 60 Starlink satellites, beginning to deploy what would become the world's largest commercial satellite constellation the following year. In 2022, most SpaceX launches focused on Starlink, a consumer internet business that sends batches of internet-beaming satellites and now has over 6,000 satellites in orbit. On 16 July 2021, SpaceX entered an agreement to acquire Swarm Technologies ,

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2730-776: The greater war between Russia and Ukraine, Starlink was extensively used . In 2022, SpaceX's Falcon 9 also became the world record holder for the most launches of a single vehicle type in a single year. SpaceX launched a rocket approximately every six days in 2022, with 61 launches in total. All but one (a Falcon Heavy in November) was on a Falcon 9 rocket. In November 2023, SpaceX announced it would acquire its parachute supplier Pioneer Aerospace out of bankruptcy for $ 2.2 million . On 16 July 2024, Elon Musk posted on X that SpaceX would move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California , to SpaceX Starbase in Brownsville, Texas . Musk said this

2795-579: The initial positions at the fledgling company, including Griffin, who declined the position of Chief Engineer, Jim Cantrell and John Garvey (Cantrell and Garvey would later found the company Vector Launch ), rocket engineer Tom Mueller , and Chris Thompson. SpaceX was first headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California . Early SpaceX employees, such as Tom Mueller (CTO), Gwynne Shotwell (COO), and Chris Thompson (VP of Operations), came from neighboring TRW and Boeing corporations. By November 2005,

2860-466: The landing technology. The Falcon 9 prototypes performed vertical takeoffs and landings ( VTOL ). High-velocity, high-altitude tests of the booster atmospheric return technology began in late 2013. SpaceX launched the first commercial mission for a private customer in 2013. In 2014, SpaceX won nine contracts out of the 20 that were openly competed worldwide. That year Arianespace requested that European governments provide additional subsidies to face

2925-423: The largest single fundraising pushes by any privately held company, SpaceX's valuation increased to $ 46 billion . In February 2021, SpaceX raised an additional $ 1.61 billion in an equity round from 99 investors at a per share value of approximately $ 420 , raising the company valuation to approximately $ 74 billion . By 2021, SpaceX had raised more than $ 6 billion in equity financing. Most of

2990-412: The launch sequence of a space vehicle. In the case of a rocket that must be self-destructed during its ascent, max q occurs at the point of self-destruction. Eventually, the vehicle lost control and spun erratically until the automated flight termination system was activated, which intentionally destroyed the rocket. Elon Musk, SpaceX, and other individuals familiar with the space industry have referred to

3055-503: The leading global commercial launch provider measured by manifested launches. In 2017, SpaceX formed a subsidiary, The Boring Company , and began work to construct a short test tunnel on and adjacent to the SpaceX headquarters and manufacturing facility, using a small number of SpaceX employees, which was completed in May 2018, and opened to the public in December 2018. During 2018, The Boring Company

3120-453: The new SpaceX South Texas launch site later that year. On 20 April 2023, Starship's first orbital flight test ended in a mid-air explosion over the Gulf of Mexico before booster separation. After launch, multiple engines in the booster progressively failed, causing the vehicle to reach max q later than planned. "Max q" is the theoretical point of maximal mechanical stress which occurs during

3185-538: The previous February to provide the monetary rewards to winners in a contest to develop the best carbon capture technology . In August 2022, Reuters reported that the European Space Agency (ESA) began initial discussions with SpaceX that could lead to the company's launchers being used temporarily, given that Russia blocked access to Soyuz rockets amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine . Since that invasion and in

3250-541: The rocket explosion sent the company into a four-month launch hiatus while it worked out what went wrong. SpaceX returned to flight in January 2017. In March 2017, SpaceX launched a returned Falcon 9 for the SES-10 satellite. This was the first time a re-launch of a payload-carrying orbital rocket went back to space. The first stage was recovered again, also making it the first landing of a reused orbital class rocket. In July 2017,

3315-470: The same time. Musk was reportedly "waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain" because of the stress. The financial situation started to turn around with the first successful launch achieved on the fourth attempt on 28 September 2008. Musk split his remaining $ 30 million between SpaceX and Tesla, and NASA awarded the first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract awarding $ 1.6 billion to SpaceX in December, thus financially saving

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3380-580: The sciences, astronomy and Earth science benefit from space technology. New technologies originating with or accelerated by space-related endeavors are often subsequently exploited in other economic activities. The first country on Earth to put any technology into space was the Soviet Union , formerly known as the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" (USSR). The USSR sent the Sputnik 1 satellite on October 4, 1957. It weighed about 83 kg (183 lb), and

3445-479: The space industry also helps other industries, such as telecommunications and materials engineering, by creating new job opportunities. Environmentally, using reusable rockets helps reduce space debris. By reusing rockets, space agencies can produce less waste and lessen the impact of space missions on the environment. This approach supports cleaner space exploration and a more sustainable future. In summary, technological advances in space exploration positively affect

3510-413: The test flight as a success. Musk said at the time that it would take "six to eight weeks" to get the infrastructure prepared for another launch. In October 2023, a senior SpaceX executive stated the company had been ready to launch the next test flight since September. He accused government regulators of disrupting the project's progress, adding the delay could lead to China beating U.S. astronauts back to

3575-404: The way for its Starshield military counterpart. In 2020, SpaceX began to operate its Dragon 2 capsules to deliver crewed missions for NASA and private entities. Around this time, SpaceX began building test prototypes for Starship , which is the largest launch vehicle in history and aims to fully realize the company's vision of a fully-reusable, cost-effective and adaptable launch vehicle. SpaceX

3640-563: The world's dominant space launch provider, its launch cadence rivaling that of the Chinese space program and eclipsing all those of its private competitors. SpaceX, NASA and the United States Armed Forces work closely together by means of governmental contracts . SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2001 with a vision of decreasing the costs of space launches, paving the way to a sustainable colony on Mars . In 2008, when SpaceX

3705-441: Was spun out into a separate corporate entity with 6% of the equity going to SpaceX, less than 10% to early employees, and the remainder of the equity to Elon Musk. In 2019 SpaceX raised $ 1.33 billion of capital across three funding rounds. By May 2019, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $ 33.3 billion and reached $ 36 billion by March 2020. On 19 August 2020, after a $ 1.9 billion funding round, one of

3770-472: Was achieved in May 2020, when SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts ( Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken ) into orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft during Crew Dragon Demo-2 , making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station and marking the first crewed orbital launch from American soil in 9 years. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in Florida. In May 2019, SpaceX launched

3835-409: Was almost bankrupt, Falcon 1 successfully launched into orbit after three failed launch attempts. The company then pivoted towards the development of the larger Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon 1 capsule to satisfy NASA 's COTS contracts for deliveries to the International Space Station . By 2012, SpaceX finished all COTS test flights and began delivering Commercial Resupply Services missions to

3900-575: Was approximately $ 90 million to $ 100 million . The Falcon rocket series was named after Star Wars ' s Millennium Falcon fictional spacecraft. In 2004, SpaceX protested against NASA to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) because of a sole-source contract awarded to Kistler Aerospace . Before the GAO could respond, NASA withdrew the contract, and formed the COTS program . In 2005, SpaceX announced plans to pursue

3965-426: Was because medical staff and spacecraft engineers were unsure how a human might react to weightlessness, and therefore it was decided to lock the pilot's manual controls. The first probe to impact the surface of the Moon was the Soviet probe Luna 2 , which made a hard landing on September 14, 1959. The far side of the Moon was first photographed on October 7, 1959, by the Soviet probe Luna 3 .s On December 24, 1968,

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4030-456: Was because the recently passed California AB1955 bill "and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies". This new law in California bans school districts from requiring that teachers notify parents about changes to a student’s sexual orientation and gender identity. The headquarters officially moved to Brownsville, Texas in August 2024, according to records filed with

4095-523: Was launched in December 2010 aboard COTS Demo Flight 1 , the Falcon 9's second flight, and safely returned to Earth after two orbits, completing all its mission objectives. By December 2010, the SpaceX production line was manufacturing one Falcon 9 and Dragon every three months. In April 2011, as part of its second-round Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, NASA issued a $ 75 million contract for SpaceX to develop an integrated launch escape system for Dragon in preparation for human-rating it as

4160-683: Was the first launch vehicle developed and was retired in 2009. The medium-lift Falcon 9 and the heavy-lift Falcon Heavy are both operational. Falcon 1 was a small rocket capable of placing several hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit . It launched five times between 2006 and 2009, of which two were successful. The Falcon 1 was the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit. Space technology Many common everyday services for terrestrial use such as weather forecasting , remote sensing , satellite navigation systems, satellite television , and some long-distance communications systems critically rely on space infrastructure . Of

4225-401: Was traced to a failed two-foot-long steel strut that held a helium pressure vessel , which broke free due to the force of acceleration . This caused a breach and allowed high-pressure helium to escape into the low-pressure propellant tank , causing the failure. SpaceX first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage in December 2015 with Falcon 9 Flight 20 . In April 2016,

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