BREAKING NEWS
Cloud Server Hosting For Online Businesses
Inexpensive SEO Services
Benefits of Wanting to play Free Online Slot machines
SpaceX

Summary

(Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
SpaceX
Private
IndustryAerospace
FoundedMay 6, 2002; 18 years ago (2002-05-06)[1]
FounderElon Musk
Headquarters
Hawthorne, California, U.S.
33°55′15″N 118°19′40″W / 33.9207°N 118.3278°W / 33.9207; -118.3278Coordinates: 33°55′15″N 118°19′40″W / 33.9207°N 118.3278°W / 33.9207; -118.3278
Key people
Products
ServicesOrbital rocket launch
RevenueIncreaseUS$2 billion (2019)
OwnerElon Musk Trust
(54% equity; 78% voting control)[3]
Number of employees
8,000 (May 2020)
Websitewww.spacex.com
Footnotes / references
[4][5][6][7][8]

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.[9][10][11] SpaceX has developed several launch vehicles, the Starlink satellite constellation, the Dragon cargo spacecraft, and flown humans to the International Space Station on the Crew Dragon Demo-2.

SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit (Falcon 1 in 2008),[12] the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft (Dragon in 2010), the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (Dragon in 2012),[13] the first Vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing for an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2015), the first reuse of an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2017), the first private company to launch an object into orbit around the Sun (Falcon Heavy's payload of a Tesla Roadster in 2018), and the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the International Space Station (SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission in 2020).[14] SpaceX has flown 20[15] cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) under a partnership with NASA,[16] as well as an uncrewed demonstration flight of the human-rated Dragon 2 spacecraft (Crew Demo-1) on 2 March 2019, and the first crewed Dragon 2 flight on 30 May 2020.[14]

In December 2015, a Falcon 9 accomplished a propulsive vertical landing. This was the first such achievement by a rocket for orbital spaceflight.[17] In April 2016, with the launch of SpaceX CRS-8, SpaceX successfully vertically landed the first stage on an ocean drone ship landing platform.[18] In May 2016, in another first, SpaceX again landed the first stage, but during a significantly more energetic geostationary transfer orbit mission.[19] In March 2017, SpaceX became the first to successfully re-launch and land the first stage of an orbital rocket.[20] In January 2020, with the third launch of the Starlink project, SpaceX became the largest commercial satellite constellation operator in the world.[21][22]

In September 2016, Musk unveiled the Interplanetary Transport System — subsequently renamed Starship — a privately funded launch system to develop spaceflight technology for use in crewed interplanetary spaceflight. In 2017, Musk unveiled an updated configuration of the system which is intended to handle interplanetary missions plus become the primary SpaceX orbital vehicle after the early 2020s, as SpaceX has announced it intends to eventually replace its existing Falcon 9 launch vehicles and Dragon space capsule fleet with Starship, even in the Earth-orbit satellite delivery market.[23][24][25]:24:50–27:05 Starship is planned to be fully reusable and will be the largest rocket ever on its debut, scheduled for the early 2020s.[26][27]

History

Employees with the Dragon capsule at SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California, February 2015
Launch of Falcon 9 carrying ORBCOMM OG2-M1, July 2014
Falcon 9 rocket's first stage on the landing pad after the second successful vertical landing of an orbital rocket stage, OG2 Mission, December 2015.
Falcon 9 first stage on an Autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) barge after the first successful landing at sea, SpaceX CRS-8 mission.

In 2001, Elon Musk conceptualized Mars Oasis, a project to land a miniature experimental greenhouse and grow plants on Mars. He announced that "This would be the furthest that life's ever traveled"[28] in an attempt to regain public interest in space exploration and increase the budget of NASA.[29][30][31] Musk tried to buy cheap rockets from Russia but returned empty-handed after failing to find rockets for an affordable price.[32][33]

On the flight home, Musk realized that he could start a company that could build the affordable rockets he needed.[33] According to early Tesla and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson,[34] Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a rocket were only three percent of the sales price of a rocket at the time. By applying vertical integration,[32] producing around 85% of launch hardware in-house,[35][36] and the modular approach of modern software engineering, Musk believed SpaceX could cut launch price by a factor of ten and still enjoy a 70% gross margin.[37]

In early 2002, Musk was seeking staff for his new space company, soon to be named SpaceX. Musk approached rocket engineer Tom Mueller (later SpaceX's CTO of propulsion). Mueller agreed to work for Musk, and thus SpaceX was born.[38] SpaceX was first headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California. The company grew rapidly, from 160 employees in November 2005 to 1100 in 2010,[39][40] 3,800 employees and contractors by October 2013,[41] nearly 5,000 by late 2015,[42][43] and about 6,000 in April 2017.[44] As of November 2017, the company had grown to nearly 7,000,[45] and was 8,000 in May 2020, where COO Gwynne Shotwell said she did not expect the company to grow much more to bring Starlink online.[8] In 2016, Musk gave a speech at the International Astronautical Congress, where he explained that the US government regulates rocket technology as an "advanced weapon technology", making it difficult to hire non-Americans.[46]

As of March 2018, SpaceX had over 100 launches on its manifest representing about US$12 billion in contract revenue.[47] The contracts included both commercial and government (NASA/DOD) customers.[48] In late 2013, space industry media quoted Musk's comments on SpaceX "forcing... increased competitiveness in the launch industry", its major competitors in the commercial comsat launch market being Arianespace, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and International Launch Services (ILS).[49] At the same time, Musk also said that the increased competition would "be a good thing for the future of space". Currently, SpaceX is the leading global commercial launch provider measured by manifested launches.[50]

On 30 May 2020, 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 launch from American soil in 9 years.[51][52] The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.[53] Crew Dragon Demo-2 successfully docked with the International Space Station on 31 May 2020.[54] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic happening at the same time, proper quarantine procedures (many of which were already in use by NASA decades before the 2020 pandemic) were taken to prevent the astronauts from bringing COVID-19 aboard the ISS.[55][56]

Goals

Falcon Heavy Rocket on Launch Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Musk has stated that one of his goals is to decrease the cost and improve the reliability of access to space, ultimately by a factor of ten.[57] CEO Elon Musk said: "I believe US$500 per pound (US$1100/kg) or less is very achievable".[58] Musk has also stated that he wishes to make space travel available for "almost anyone".[59]

A major goal of SpaceX has been to develop a rapidly reusable launch system. As of March 2013, the publicly announced aspects of this technology development effort include an active test campaign of the low-altitude, low-velocity Grasshopper flight test vehicle,[60][61][62] and a high-altitude, high-speed Falcon 9 post-mission booster return test campaign. In 2015, SpaceX successfully landed the first orbital rocket stage on 21 December 2015.

In 2017, SpaceX formed a subsidiary, The Boring Company,[63] and began work to construct a short test tunnel on and adjacent to the SpaceX headquarters and manufacturing facility, utilizing a small number of SpaceX employees,[64] which was completed in May 2018,[65][66] and opened to the public in December 2018.[67] During 2018, The Boring Company 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.[67]

At the International Astronautical Congress of 2016, Musk announced his plans to build large spaceships to reach Mars.[68] Using the Starship, Musk planned to send at least two uncrewed cargo ships to Mars in 2022. The first missions would be used to seek out sources of water and build a propellant plant. Musk also planned to fly four additional ships to Mars in 2024 including the first people. From there, additional missions would work to establish a Mars colony.[10][69] These goals are however facing delays.[70]

Musk's advocacy for the long-term settlement of Mars goes far beyond what SpaceX projects to build;[71][72][73] successful colonization of Mars would ultimately involve many more economic actors — whether individuals, companies, or governments — to facilitate the growth of the human presence on Mars over many decades.[74][75][76]

Achievements

Major achievements of SpaceX are in the reuse of orbital-class launch vehicles and cost reduction in the space launch industry. Most notable of these being the continued landings and relaunches of the first stage of Falcon 9. As of August 2020, SpaceX has used a single first-stage booster, B1049, at most six times.[77] SpaceX is defined as a private space company and thus its achievements can also be counted as firsts by a private company.

Achievements of SpaceX in chronological order include:[78][unreliable source?]

Accidents

In March 2013, a Dragon spacecraft in orbit developed issues with its thrusters that limited its control capabilities. SpaceX engineers were able to remotely clear the blockages within a short period, and the spacecraft was able to successfully complete its mission to and from the International Space Station.

In late June 2015, CRS-7 launched a Cargo Dragon atop a Falcon 9 to resupply the International Space Station. All telemetry readings were nominal until 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the flight when a loss of helium pressure was detected and a cloud of vapor appeared outside the second stage. A few seconds after this, the second stage exploded. The first stage continued to fly for a few seconds before disintegrating due to aerodynamic forces. The capsule was thrown off and survived the explosion, transmitting data until it was destroyed on impact.[84] Later it was revealed that the capsule could have landed intact if it had software to deploy its parachutes in case of a launch mishap.[85] The problem was discovered to be a failed 2-foot-long steel strut purchased from a supplier[86] to hold a helium pressure vessel that broke free due to the force of acceleration.[87] This caused a breach and allowed high-pressure helium to escape into the low-pressure propellant tank, causing the failure. The Dragon software issue was also fixed in addition to an analysis of the entire program in order to ensure proper abort mechanisms are in place for future rockets and their payload.[88]

In early September 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded during a propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch static fire test.[89][90] The payload, the Spacecom Amos-6 communications satellite valued at $200 million, was destroyed.[91] Musk described the event as the "most difficult and complex failure" in SpaceX's history; SpaceX reviewed nearly 3,000 channels of telemetry and video data covering a period of 35–55 milliseconds for the postmortem.[92] Musk reported that 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.[93] Though not considered an unsuccessful flight, 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.[94]

On June 28, 2019, SpaceX announced that it had lost contact with three of the 60 satellites making up the Starlink mega constellation. The dysfunctional satellites' orbits are expected to slowly decay until they disintegrate in the atmosphere.[95] However, the rate of failure for satellites in mega-constellations consisting of thousands of satellites has raised concerns that these constellations could litter the Earth's lower orbit, with serious detrimental consequences for future space flights.[96]

Ownership, funding, and valuation

In August 2008, SpaceX accepted a US$20 million investment from Founders Fund.[97] In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of the company stock was owned by its founder[98] and his 70 million shares were then estimated to be worth $875 million on private markets,[99] which roughly valued SpaceX at $1.3 billion as of February 2012.[100] After the COTS 2+ flight in May 2012, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to US$2.4 billion.[101][102] By May 2012—ten years after founding—SpaceX had operated on total funding of approximately US$1 billion over its first decade of operation. Of this, private equity provided approximately US$200 million with Musk investing approximately US$100 million and other investors having put in about US$100 million (Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, etc.).[103] The remainder had come from progress payments on long-term launch contracts and development contracts, as working capital, not equity.

In January 2015, SpaceX raised US$1 billion in funding from Google and Fidelity, in exchange for 8.33% of the company, establishing the company valuation at approximately US$12 billion. Google and Fidelity joined prior investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners and Capricorn.[104][105] In July 2017, the Company raised US$350 million at a valuation of US$21 billion.[106]

Congressional testimony by SpaceX in 2017 suggested that the NASA Space Act Agreement process of "setting only a high-level requirement for cargo transport to the space station [while] leaving the details to industry" had allowed SpaceX to design and develop the Falcon 9 rocket on its own at a substantially lower cost. According to NASA's own independently verified numbers, SpaceX's total development cost for both the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets was estimated at approximately US$390 million. In 2011, NASA estimated that it would have cost the agency about US$4 billion to develop a rocket like the Falcon 9 booster based upon NASA's traditional contracting processes, about ten times more.[107]

By March 2018, SpaceX had contracts for 100 launch missions, and each of those contracts provides down payments at contract signing, plus many are paying progress payments as launch vehicle components are built in advance of mission launch, driven in part by US accounting rules for recognizing long-term revenue.[48]

Successful SpaceX launches by year[108]

SpaceX raised a total of US$1.33 billion of capital across three funding rounds in 2019.[109] In April 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported the company was raising $500 million in funding.[110] In May 2019, Space News reported SpaceX "raised $1.022 billion" the day after SpaceX launched 60 satellites towards their 12,000 satellite plan named Starlink broadband constellation.[111][112] By May 31, 2019, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $33.3 billion.[113] In June 2019, SpaceX began a raise of US$300 million, most of it from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which then had some US$191 billion in assets under management.[114][needs update]

As of February 2020, SpaceX was raising an additional amount of about US$250 million through equity stock offerings. In May 2020, its valuation reached US$36 billion.[115] On August 19, 2020, after having had finished a $1.9 billion funding round, one of the largest single fundraising pushes by any privately held company, SpaceX's valuation increased to $46 billion.[116][117]

Hardware

Launch vehicles

The landing of a Falcon 9 Block 5 first stage at Cape Canaveral in July 2019 – VTVL technologies are utilized in many of SpaceX's launch vehicles.

Falcon 1 was a small rocket capable of placing several hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit.[118] It functioned as an early test-bed for developing concepts and components for the larger Falcon 9.[118] Falcon 1 attempted five flights between 2006 and 2009. With Falcon I, when Musk announced his plans for it before a subcommittee in the Senate in 2004, he discussed that Falcon I would be the 'worlds only semi-reusable orbital rocket' apart from the Space Shuttle.[119] On September 28, 2008, on its fourth attempt, the Falcon 1 successfully reached orbit, becoming the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to do so.[120]

Falcon 9 is an EELV-class medium-lift vehicle capable of delivering up to 22,800 kilograms (50,265 lb) to orbit, and is intended to compete with the Delta IV and the Atlas V rockets, as well as other launch providers around the world. It has nine Merlin engines in its first stage.[121] The Falcon 9 v1.0 rocket successfully reached orbit on its first attempt on 2010-06-04. Its third flight, COTS Demo Flight 2, launched on 2012-05-22, and was the first commercial spacecraft to reach and dock with the International Space Station.[122] The vehicle was upgraded to Falcon 9 v1.1 in 2013, Falcon 9 Full Thrust in 2015, and finally to Falcon 9 Block 5 in 2018. As of 23 March 2020, the Falcon 9 family has flown 84 successful missions with one failure, one partial success, and one vehicle destroyed during a routine test several days prior to a scheduled launch.

In 2011, SpaceX began development of the Falcon Heavy, a heavy-lift rocket configured using a cluster of three Falcon 9 first stage cores with a total of 27 Merlin 1D engines and propellant crossfeed.[123][124] The Falcon Heavy successfully flew on its inaugural mission on February 6, 2018, with a payload consisting of Musk's personal Tesla Roadster into heliocentric orbit[125] The first stage would be capable of lifting 63,800 kilograms (140,660 lb) to LEO with the 27 Merlin 1D engines producing 22,819 kN of thrust at sea level, and 24,681 kN in space. At the time of its first launch, SpaceX described their Falcon Heavy as "the world's most powerful rocket in operation".[126]

Rocket engines

The Merlin 1D engine, SpaceX's most numerous engine, undergoing testing at SpaceX's Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas.

Since the founding of SpaceX in 2002, the company has developed three families of rocket engines—Merlin and the retired Kestrel for launch vehicle propulsion, and the Draco control thrusters. SpaceX is currently developing two further rocket engines: SuperDraco and Raptor. SpaceX is currently the world's most prolific producer of liquid fuel rocket engines.[127] Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on their launch vehicles. Merlin engines use LOX and RP-1 as propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for sea recovery and reuse. The injector at the heart of Merlin is of the pintle type that was first used in the Apollo Program for the lunar module landing engine. Propellants are fed via a single shaft, dual impeller turbo-pump. Kestrel is a LOX/RP-1 pressure-fed rocket engine and was used as the Falcon 1 rocket's second stage main engine. It is built around the same pintle architecture as SpaceX's Merlin engine but does not have a turbo-pump, and is fed only by tank pressure. Its nozzle is ablatively cooled in the chamber and throat, is also radiatively cooled, and is fabricated from a high strength niobium alloy. Both names for the Merlin and Kestrel engines are derived from species of North American falcons: the American kestrel and the merlin.[128]

Draco engines are hypergolic liquid-propellant rocket engines that utilize monomethyl hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. Each Draco thruster generates 400 newtons (90 lbf) of thrust.[129] They are used as reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on the Dragon spacecraft.[130] SuperDraco engines are a much more powerful version of the Draco thrusters, which were initially meant to be used as landing and launch escape system engines on Dragon 2. The concept of using retro-rockets for landing was scrapped in 2017 when it was decided to perform a traditional parachute descent and splashdown at sea.[131] Raptor is a new family of methane-fueled full-flow staged combustion cycle engines to be used in its future Starship launch system.[132] Development versions were test-fired in late 2016.[133] On April 3, 2019, SpaceX conducted a successful static fire test in Texas on its Starhopper vehicle, which ignited the engine while the vehicle remained tethered to the ground.[134] On July 24, 2019, SpaceX conducted a successful test hop of 20 meters of its Starhopper.[135] On August 28, 2019, Starhopper conducted a successful test hop of 150 meters.[136]

Dragon spacecraft

The SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, designed to deliver crew to and from the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew Program.

In 2005, SpaceX announced plans to pursue a human-rated commercial space program through the end of the decade.[137] The Dragon is a conventional blunt-cone ballistic capsule that is capable of carrying cargo or up to seven astronauts into orbit and beyond.[138][138] In 2006, NASA announced that the company was one of two selected to provide crew and cargo resupply demonstration contracts to the ISS under the COTS program.[139] SpaceX demonstrated cargo resupply and eventually crew transportation services using the Dragon.[122] The first flight of a Dragon structural test article took place in June 2010, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle; the mock-up Dragon lacked avionics, heat shield, and other key elements normally required of a fully operational spacecraft but contained all the necessary characteristics to validate the flight performance of the launch vehicle.[140] An operational Dragon spacecraft 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.[141] In 2012, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station,[122] and has since been conducting regular resupply services to the ISS.[142]

In April 2011, NASA issued a $75 million contract, as part of its second-round commercial crew development (CCDev) program, for SpaceX to develop an integrated launch escape system for Dragon in preparation for human-rating it as a crew transport vehicle to the ISS.[143] In August 2012, NASA awarded SpaceX a firm, fixed-price SAA with the objective of producing a detailed design of the entire crew transportation system. This contract includes numerous key technical and certification milestones, an uncrewed flight test, a crewed flight test, and six operational missions following system certification.[144] The fully autonomous Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to be one of the safest crewed spacecraft systems. Reusable in nature, the Crew Dragon will offer savings to NASA.[144] SpaceX conducted a test of an empty Crew Dragon to ISS in early 2019, and later in the year, they plan to launch a crewed Dragon which will send US astronauts to the ISS for the first time since the retirement of the Space Shuttle.[145][146] In February 2017, SpaceX announced that two would-be space tourists had put down "significant deposits" for a mission which would see the two tourists fly on board a Dragon capsule around the Moon and back again.

In addition to SpaceX's privately funded plans for an eventual Mars mission, NASA Ames Research Center had developed a concept called Red Dragon: a low-cost Mars mission that would use Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon capsule to enter the Martian atmosphere. The concept was originally envisioned for launch in 2018 as a NASA Discovery mission, then alternatively for 2022.[147] The objectives of the mission would be to return the samples from Mars to Earth at a fraction of the cost of the NASA own return-sample mission now projected at 6 billion dollars.[147][148] In September 2017, Elon Musk released first prototype images of their spacesuits to be used in future missions. The suit is in the testing phase and it is designed to cope with 2 atm (200 kPa; 29 psi) pressure in vacuum.[149][150] The Crew Dragon spacecraft was first sent to space on March 2, 2019.

On March 27, 2020, SpaceX revealed the Dragon XL resupply spacecraft to carry pressurized and unpressurized cargo, experiments and other supplies to NASA's planned Lunar Gateway under a Gateway Logistics Services (GLS) contract.[151] The equipment delivered by Dragon XL missions could include sample collection materials, spacesuits and other items astronauts may need on the Gateway and on the surface of the Moon, according to NASA. It will launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy rockets from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Dragon XL will stay at the Gateway for six to 12 months at a time, when research payloads inside and outside the cargo vessel could be operated remotely, even when crews are not present.[152] Its payload capacity is expected to be more than 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb) to lunar orbit.[153]

First test firing of a scale Raptor development engine in September 2016 in McGregor, Texas.

Reusable launch system

An autonomous spaceport drone ship in position prior to Falcon 9 Flight 17 carrying CRS-6.

SpaceX's reusable launcher program was publicly announced in 2011 and the design phase was completed in February 2012. The system returns the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket to a predetermined landing site using only its own propulsion systems.[154]

SpaceX's active test program began in late 2012 with testing low-altitude, low-speed aspects of the landing technology. The prototypes of Falcon 9 performed vertical takeoffs and landings.

High-velocity, high-altitude aspects of the booster atmospheric return technology began testing in late 2013 and have continued through 2018, with a 98% success rate to date. As a result of Elon Musk's goal of crafting more cost-effective launch vehicles, SpaceX conceived a method to reuse the first stage of their primary rocket, the Falcon 9,[155] by attempting propulsive vertical landings on solid surfaces. Once the company determined that soft landings were feasible by touching down over the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, they began landing attempts on a solid platform. SpaceX leased and modified several barges to sit out at sea as a target for the returning first stage, converting them to autonomous spaceport drone ships (ASDS). SpaceX first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage in December 2015,[156] and in April 2016, the first stage booster first successfully landed on the ASDS Of Course I Still Love You.[157][158]

SpaceX continues to carry out first stage landings on every orbital launch that fuel margins allow. By October 2016, following the successful landings, SpaceX indicated they were offering their customers a ten percent price discount if they choose to fly their payload on a reused Falcon 9 first stage.[159] On March 30, 2017, SpaceX launched a "flight-proven" Falcon 9 for the SES-10 mission. This was the first time a re-launch of a payload-carrying orbital rocket went back to space.[79][160] The first stage was recovered and landed on the ASDS Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean, also making it the first landing of a reused orbital class rocket. Elon Musk called the achievement an "incredible milestone in the history of space."[161][162]

The autonomous spaceport drone ships are named after giant starships from the Culture series stories by science fiction author Iain M. Banks.[163]

Starship

Starship SN8 during installation of the nosecone on October 22, 2020

SpaceX is developing a super-heavy lift launch system, Starship. Starship is a fully reusable second stage and space vehicle intended to replace all of the company's existing launch vehicle hardware by the early 2020s; plus ground infrastructure for rapid launch and relaunch and zero-gravity propellant transfer technology in low Earth orbit (LEO).

SpaceX initially envisioned a 12-meter-diameter ITS concept in 2016 which was solely aimed at Mars transit and other interplanetary uses. In 2017, SpaceX articulated a smaller 9-meter-diameter BFR to replace all of SpaceX launch service provider capabilities—Earth-orbit, lunar-orbit, interplanetary missions, and potentially, even intercontinental passenger transport on Earth—but do so on a fully reusable set of vehicles with a markedly lower cost structure.[164] A large portion of the components on Starship are made of 301 stainless steel. Private passenger Yusaku Maezawa has contracted to fly around the Moon in Starship in 2023.[165][166][167]

Musk's long-term vision for the company is the development of technology and resources suitable for human colonization on Mars. He has expressed his interest in someday traveling to the planet, stating "I'd like to die on Mars, just not on impact."[168] A rocket every two years or so could provide a base for the people arriving in 2025 after a launch in 2024.[169][170] According to Steve Jurvetson, Musk believes that by 2035 at the latest, there will be thousands of rockets flying a million people to Mars, in order to enable a self-sustaining human colony.[171]

Other projects

In January 2015, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced the development of a new satellite constellation, called Starlink, to provide global broadband internet service. In June 2015, the company asked the federal government for permission to begin testing for a project that aims to build a constellation of 4,425 satellites capable of beaming the Internet to the entire globe, including remote regions that currently do not have Internet access.[172][173] The Internet service would use a constellation of 4,425 cross-linked communications satellites in 1,100 km orbits. Owned and operated by SpaceX, the goal of the business is to increase profitability and cash flow, to allow SpaceX to build its Mars colony.[174] Development began in 2015, initial prototype test-flight satellites were launched on the SpaceX PAZ mission in 2017. Initial operation of the constellation could begin as early as 2020. As of March 2017, SpaceX filed with the US regulatory authorities plans to field a constellation of an additional 7,518 "V-band satellites in non-geosynchronous orbits to provide communications services" in an electromagnetic spectrum that had not previously been "heavily employed for commercial communications services". Called the "V-band low-Earth-orbit (VLEO) constellation", it would consist of "7,518 satellites to follow the [earlier] proposed 4,425 satellites that would function in Ka- and Ku-band".[175] In February 2019, SpaceX formed a sibling company, SpaceX Services, Inc., to license the manufacture and deployment of up to 1,000,000 fixed satellite earth stations that will communicate with its Starlink system.[176] In May 2019, SpaceX launched the first batch of 60 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, FL.[177]

In June 2015, SpaceX announced that they would sponsor a Hyperloop competition, and would build a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) subscale test track near SpaceX's headquarters for the competitive events.[178][179] The first competitive event was held at the track in January 2017, the second in August 2017 and the third in December 2018.[180][181][182]

Facilities

The headquarters of the company, located in Hawthorne, California.

SpaceX is headquartered in Hawthorne, California, which also serves as its primary manufacturing plant. The company operates a research & major operation in Redmond, Washington, owns a test site in Texas and operates three launch sites, with another under development. SpaceX also operates regional offices in Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.[48]

Headquarters, manufacturing, and refurbishment facilities

Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket cores under construction at the SpaceX Hawthorne facility, November 2014.

SpaceX Headquarters is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, California. The large three-story facility, originally built by Northrop Corporation to build Boeing 747 fuselages,[183] houses SpaceX's office space, mission control, and, as of 2018, all vehicle manufacturing. In March 2018, SpaceX indicated that it would manufacture its next-generation, 9 m (30 ft)-diameter launch vehicle, the Starship at a new facility on the Los Angeles waterfront in the San Pedro area. The company had leased an 18-acre (73,000 m2) site near Berth 240 in the Los Angeles, however in January 2019 the lease was canceled and the construction of Starship moved to a new site in South Texas.[184][185][186]

The area has one of the largest concentrations of aerospace headquarters, facilities, and/or subsidiaries in the U.S., including Boeing/McDonnell Douglas main satellite building campuses, Aerospace Corp., Raytheon, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and AECOM, etc., with a large pool of aerospace engineers and recent college engineering graduates.[183]

SpaceX utilizes a high degree of vertical integration in the production of its rockets and rocket engines.[32] SpaceX builds its rocket engines, rocket stages, spacecraft, principal avionics and all software in-house in their Hawthorne facility, which is unusual for the aerospace industry. Nevertheless, SpaceX still has over 3,000 suppliers with some 1,100 of those delivering to SpaceX nearly weekly.[187]

In June 2017, SpaceX announced they would construct a facility on 0.88 hectares (2.17 acres) in Port Canaveral Florida for refurbishment and storage of previously-flown Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy booster cores.[188][needs update]

Development and test facilities

SpaceX McGregor engine test bunker, September 2012

SpaceX operates its first Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas. All SpaceX rocket engines are tested on rocket test stands, and low-altitude VTVL flight testing of the Falcon 9 Grasshopper v1.0 and F9R Dev1 test vehicles in 2013–2014 were carried out at McGregor. 2019 low-altitude VTVL testing of the much larger 9-meter (30 ft)-diameter "Starhopper" is planned to occur at the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site near Brownsville, Texas, which is currently under construction.[189][190][191] On January 23, 2019, strong winds at the Texas test launch site blew over the nose cone over the first test article rocket, causing delays that will take weeks to repair according to SpaceX representatives.[192] In the event, SpaceX decided to forego building another nose cone for the first test article, because at the low velocities planned for that rocket, it was unnecessary.

The company purchased the McGregor facilities from Beal Aerospace, where it refitted the largest test stand for Falcon 9 engine testing. SpaceX has made a number of improvements to the facility since purchase and has also extended the acreage by purchasing several pieces of adjacent farmland. In 2011, the company announced plans to upgrade the facility for launch testing a VTVL rocket,[60] and then constructed a half-acre concrete launch facility in 2012 to support the Grasshopper test flight program.[61] As of October 2012, the McGregor facility had seven test stands that are operated "18 hours a day, six days a week"[193] and is building more test stands because production is ramping up and the company has a large manifest in the next several years. [needs update]

In addition to routine testing, Dragon capsules (following recovery after an orbital mission), are shipped to McGregor for de-fueling, cleanup, and refurbishment for reuse in future missions.

Launch facilities

SpaceX west coast launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, during the launch of CASSIOPE, September 2013.

SpaceX currently operates three orbital launch sites, at Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Kennedy Space Center, and is under construction on a fourth in Brownsville, Texas. SpaceX has indicated that they see a niche for each of the four orbital facilities and that they have sufficient launch business to fill each pad.[194] The Vandenberg launch site enables highly inclined orbits (66–145°), while Cape Canaveral enables orbits of medium inclination, up to 51.6°.[195][self-published source?] Before it was retired, all Falcon 1 launches took place at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Omelek Island.

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) is used for Falcon 9 launches to low Earth and geostationary orbits. SLC-40 is not capable of supporting Falcon Heavy launches. As part of SpaceX's booster reusability program, the former Launch Complex 13 at Cape Canaveral, now renamed Landing Zone 1, has been designated for use for Falcon 9 first-stage booster landings.

Falcon 9 Flight 20 landing on Landing Zone 1 in December 2015

Vandenberg

Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) is used for payloads to polar orbits. The Vandenberg site can launch both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy,[196] but cannot launch to low inclination orbits. The neighboring SLC-4W has been converted to Landing Zone 4, where SpaceX successfully landed one Falcon 9 first-stage booster, in October 2018.[197]

Kennedy Space Center

On April 14, 2014, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease for Launch Pad 39A.[198] The pad was subsequently modified to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. SpaceX has launched 13 Falcon 9 missions from Launch Pad 39A, the latest of which was launched on January 19, 2020.[199] SpaceX launched its first crewed mission to the ISS from Launch Pad 39A on May 30, 2020.[200]

Brownsville

In August 2014, SpaceX announced they would be building a commercial-only launch facility at Brownsville, Texas.[201][202] The Federal Aviation Administration released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Texas facility in April 2013, and "found that 'no impacts would occur' that would force the Federal Aviation Administration to deny SpaceX a permit for rocket operations,"[203][203] and issued the permit in July 2014.[204] SpaceX started construction on the new launch facility in 2014 with production ramping up in the latter half of 2015,[205] with the first suborbital launches from the facility in 2019.[189][190][206] Real estate packages at the location have been named by SpaceX with names based on the theme "Mars Crossing".[207][208]

Satellite prototyping facility

In January 2015, SpaceX announced it would be entering the satellite production business and global satellite internet business. The first satellite facility is a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) office building located in Redmond, Washington. As of January 2017, a second facility in Redmond was acquired with 40,625 square feet (3,774.2 m2) and has become a research and development lab for the satellites.[209] In July 2016, SpaceX acquired an additional 8,000 square feet (740 m2) creative space in Irvine, California (Orange County) to focus on satellite communications.[210][211]

Launch contracts

SpaceX won demonstration and actual supply contracts from NASA for the International Space Station (ISS) with technology the company developed. SpaceX is also certified for US military launches of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class (EELV) payloads. With approximately 30 missions on the manifest for 2018 alone, SpaceX represents over $12 billion under contract.[48]

SpaceX along with Virgin Galactic were among the first to have a contract with Spaceport America in New Mexico, the first and only full-scale public commercial spaceport in the United States. Among the tests conducted at the spaceport was the Grasshopper, they continue to have a smaller contract with the spaceport for potential future use, alongside their own private SpaceX South Texas Launch Site to the southwest.[212]

NASA

COTS

The COTS 2 Dragon is berthed to the ISS by Canadarm2.

In 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX had won a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Phase 1 contract to demonstrate cargo delivery to the ISS, with a possible contract option for crew transport.[213][214] This contract, designed by NASA to provide "seed money" through Space Act Agreements for developing new capabilities, NASA paid SpaceX $396 million to develop the cargo configuration of the Dragon spacecraft, while SpaceX self-invested more than $500 million to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.[215] These Space Act Agreements have been shown to have saved NASA millions of dollars in development costs, making rocket development ~4–10 times cheaper than if produced by NASA alone.[107]

In December 2010, the launch of the COTS Demo Flight 1 mission, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.[216] Dragon was successfully deployed into orbit, circled the Earth twice, and then made a controlled re-entry burn for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. With Dragon's safe recovery, SpaceX became the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; prior to this mission, only government agencies had been able to recover orbital spacecraft.

COTS Demo Flight 2 launched in May 2012, in which Dragon successfully berthed with the ISS, marking the first time that a private spacecraft had accomplished this feat.[217][218]

Commercial cargo

Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of contracts awarded by NASA from 2008 to 2016 for delivery of cargo and supplies to the ISS on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarded $1.6 billion to SpaceX for 12 cargo transport missions, covering deliveries to 2016.[219][self-published source?] SpaceX CRS-1, the first of the 12 planned resupply missions, launched in October 2012, achieved orbit, berthed and remained on station for 20 days, before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.[220] CRS missions have flown approximately twice a year to the ISS since then. In 2015, NASA extended the Phase 1 contracts by ordering an additional three resupply flights from SpaceX.[221][222] After further extensions late in 2015, SpaceX is currently scheduled to fly a total of 20 missions.[223] A second phase of contracts (known as CRS-2) were solicited and proposed in 2014. They were awarded in January 2016, for cargo transport flights beginning in 2019 and expected to last through 2024. SpaceX will be using heavy Dragon XL rockets to send supplies to NASA's Lunar Gateway space station.[224]

Commercial crew

Crew Dragon undergoing testing prior to flight

The Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program intends to develop commercially operated spacecraft that are capable of delivering astronauts to the ISS. SpaceX did not win a Space Act Agreement in the first round (CCDev 1), but during the second round (CCDev 2), NASA awarded SpaceX with a contract worth $75 million to further develop their launch escape system, test a crew accommodations mock-up, and to further progress their Falcon/Dragon crew transportation design.[225][226][227] The CCDev program later became Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap), and in August 2012, NASA announced that SpaceX had been awarded $440 million to continue development and testing of its Dragon 2 spacecraft.[228][229]

In September 2014, NASA chose SpaceX and Boeing as the two companies that will be funded to develop systems to transport U.S. crews to and from the ISS. SpaceX won $2.6 billion to complete and certify Dragon 2 by 2017. The contracts include at least one crewed flight test with at least one NASA astronaut aboard. Once Crew Dragon achieves NASA certification, the contract requires SpaceX to conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station.[230] In early 2017, SpaceX was awarded four additional crewed missions to the ISS from NASA to shuttle astronauts back and forth.[231][better source needed] In early 2019, SpaceX successfully conducted a test flight of Crew Dragon, which it docked (instead of Dragon 1's method of berthing using Canada arm 2) and then splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Progress

September 16, 2014 – NASA selected SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station under the Commercial Crew Program.[232][self-published source?]

May 6, 2015 – Just after 9 am Eastern Time, SpaceX completed the first key flight test of its Crew Dragon spacecraft, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts to and from space. The successful Pad Abort Test was the first flight test of SpaceX's revolutionary launch abort system, and the data captured here will be critical in preparing Crew Dragon for its first human missions.[233][self-published source?]

August 3, 2018 – NASA announced the first four astronauts who will launch aboard Crew Dragon to the International Space Station. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the first two NASA astronauts to fly in the Dragon spacecraft.[234][self-published source?]

March 2, 2019 – The Crew Demo-1 launched without crew on board. This mission was intended to demonstrate SpaceX's capabilities to safely and reliably fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station.[235][self-published source?]

March 3, 2019 – Crew Dragon docked with the ISS at 3:02 a.m. PST, becoming the first American spacecraft to autonomously dock with the orbiting laboratory.[236][self-published source?]

March 8, 2019 – Crew Dragon splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean at 5:45 a.m. PST, completing the spacecraft's first mission to the International Space Station.[237][self-published source?]

January 19, 2020 – Crew Dragon test capsule was launched on a suborbital trajectory to conduct an in-flight abort test in the troposphere at transonic velocities, at max Q, where the vehicle experiences maximum aerodynamic pressure. The Crew Dragon splashed down at 15:38 UTC just off the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean.[199]

May 27, 2020 - The planned launch of American astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station was aborted 16 minutes before the scheduled launch time due to poor weather conditions. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule launch was postponed to May 30, 2020, where it launched successfully at 3:22 p.m. ET (7:22 p.m. UTC).[238]

May 30, 2020 - The planned launch of American astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station was successfully launched. This was the first time a crewed vehicle had launched from the US since 2011. This was also the first Commercial crewed ISS delivery.

National defense

In 2005, SpaceX announced that it had been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, allowing the United States Air Force to purchase up to $100 million worth of launches from the company.[239][self-published source?] In April 2008, NASA announced that it had awarded an IDIQ Launch Services contract to SpaceX for up to $1 billion, depending on the number of missions awarded. The contract covers launch services ordered by June 2010, for launches through December 2012.[240] Musk stated in the same 2008 announcement that SpaceX has sold 14 contracts for flights on the various Falcon vehicles.[240] In December 2012, SpaceX announced its first two launch contracts with the United States Department of Defense. The United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded SpaceX two EELV-class missions: Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and Space Test Program 2 (STP-2). DSCOVR was launched on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle in 2015, while STP-2 was launched on a Falcon Heavy on June 25, 2019.[241]

In May 2015, the United States Air Force announced that the Falcon 9 v1.1 was certified for national security space launch, which allows SpaceX to contract launch services to the Air Force for any payloads classified under national security.[242] This broke the monopoly held since 2006 by United Launch Alliance (ULA) over the US Air Force launches of classified payloads.[243]

In April 2016, the U.S. Air Force awarded the first such national security launch, an $82.7 million contract to SpaceX to launch the 2nd GPS III satellite in May 2018; this estimated cost was approximately 40% less than the estimated cost for similar previous missions.[244][245][246] Prior to this, United Launch Alliance was the only provider certified to launch national security payloads.[247][247][248] ULA did not submit a bid for the May 2018 launch.[249][250]

In 2016 the US National Reconnaissance Office said it had purchased launches from SpaceX - the first (for NROL-76) took place on May 1, 2017.[251]

In March 2017 SpaceX won (vs ULA) with a bid of $96.5 million for the 3rd GPS III launch (due Feb 2019).[252]

In March 2018, SpaceX secured an additional $290 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to launch three next-generation GPS satellites, known as GPS III. The first of these launches is expected to take place in March 2020.[253]

In February 2019, SpaceX secured a $297 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to launch three national security missions, including AFSPC-44, NROL-87, and NROL-85, all slated to launch no earlier than FY 2021.[254]

On August 7th 2020 the US military awarded its framework launch contracts for the following 5-7 years, SpaceX won a contract for $316m for one launch while ULA received a contract for $337m to perform two launches. In addition SpaceX will handle 40% of the US Militaries satellite launch requirements over the 5-7 years while ULA will handle 60%, each company is required to act as backup launch provider for the other.[255]

Space Adventures

In February 2020, Space Adventures announced plans to fly private citizens into orbit on Crew Dragon.[256] The Crew Dragon vehicle would launch from LC-39A with up to four tourists on board, and spend up to five days in a low-Earth orbit with an apogee of over 1000 km.[257]

Kazakhstan

SpaceX won a contract to launch two Kazakhstani satellites aboard the Falcon 9 launch rocket on a rideshare with other satellites. The launch took place at Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 3, 2018, with KazSaySat and KazistiSat, included in a payload totaling 64 miniature and small satellites.[258][259][260] According to the Kazakh Defence and Aerospace Ministry, the launch from SpaceX cost the country $1.3 million.[261]

Launch market competition and pricing pressure

SpaceX's low launch prices, especially for communication satellites flying to geostationary (GTO) orbit, have resulted in market pressure on its competitors to lower their own prices.[32] Prior to 2013, the openly competed comsat launch market had been dominated by Arianespace (flying Ariane 5) and International Launch Services (flying Proton).[262] With a published price of US$56.5 million per launch to low Earth orbit, "Falcon 9 rockets [were] already the cheapest in the industry. Reusable Falcon 9s could drop the price by an order of magnitude, sparking more space-based enterprise, which in turn would drop the cost of access to space still further through economies of scale."[263] SpaceX has publicly indicated that if they are successful with developing the reusable technology, launch prices in the US$5 to 7 million range for the reusable Falcon 9 are possible.[264]

In 2014, SpaceX had won nine contracts out of 20 that were openly competed worldwide in 2014 at commercial launch service providers.[265] Space media reported that SpaceX had "already begun to take market share" from Arianespace.[266] Arianespace has requested that European governments provide additional subsidies to face the competition from SpaceX.[267][268] European satellite operators are pushing the ESA to reduce Ariane 5 and the future Ariane 6 rocket launch prices as a result of competition from SpaceX. According to one Arianespace managing director in 2015, it was clear that "a very significant challenge [was] coming from SpaceX ... Therefore things have to change ... and the whole European industry is being restructured, consolidated, rationalized and streamlined."[269] Jean Botti, Director of innovation for Airbus (which makes the Ariane 5) warned that "those who don't take Elon Musk seriously will have a lot to worry about."[270] In 2014, no commercial launches were booked to fly on the Russian Proton rocket.[265]

Also in 2014, SpaceX capabilities and pricing began to affect the market for launch of US military payloads. For nearly a decade the large US launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) had faced no competition for military launches.[271] Without this competition, launch costs by the U.S. provider rose to over $400 million.[272] The ULA monopoly ended when SpaceX began to compete for national security launches. At a side-by-side comparison, SpaceX's launch costs for commercial missions are considerably lower at $62 million.[273][self-published source?]

In 2015, anticipating a slump in domestic, military, and spy launches, ULA stated that it would go out of business unless it won commercial satellite launch orders.[274] To that end, ULA announced a major restructuring of processes and workforce in order to decrease launch costs by half.[275][276]

In 2017, SpaceX had 45% global market share for awarded commercial launch contracts, the estimate for 2018 is about 65% as of July 2018.[277]

On January 11, 2019, SpaceX issued a statement announcing it would lay off 10% of its workforce, in order to help finance the Starship and Starlink projects.[278]

In the first quarter of 2020, SpaceX launched over 61,000 kg (134,000 lb) of payload mass to orbit while all Chinese, European, and Russian launchers placed approximately 21,000 kg (46,000 lb), 16,000 kg (35,000 lb) and 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) in orbit, respectively, with all other launch providers launching approximately 15,000 kg (33,000 lb).[279]

NASA announced its first crewed launch in over a decade using SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule would take place May 27, 2020, from Kennedy Space Center, at SpaceX's Launch Complex 39A (LC-39), taking astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.[280] The launch was postponed due to bad weather.[281] The vehicle launched successfully on May 30, 2020, and successfully docked with the International Space Station on May 31, 2020, at 10:16 AM EDT.[282][283]

On May 26, 2020, the NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, conceded that: “Because of the investments that NASA has made into SpaceX we now have, the United States of America now has about 70 percent of the commercial launch market, . . . That is a big change from 2012 when we had exactly zero percent.”[284]

See also

References

  1. ^ "California Business Search (C2414622 - Space Exploration Technologies Corp)". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Who is Elon Musk, and what made him big? | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 27.05.2020". Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  3. ^ Fred Lambert (17 November 2016). "Elon Musk's stake in SpaceX is actually worth more than his Tesla shares". Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Gwynne Shotwell: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  5. ^ W.J. Hennigan (7 June 2013). "How I Made It: SpaceX exec Gwynne Shotwell". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. ^ SpaceX Tour – Texas Test Site. spacexchannel. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  7. ^ "SpaceX NASA CRS-6 PressKit Site" (PDF). 12 April 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ^ a b Podcast: SpaceX COO On Prospects For Starship Launcher Archived June 10, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Aviation Week Irene Klotz, 27 May 2020, accessed 10 June 2020
  9. ^ Kenneth Chang (27 September 2016). "Elon Musk's Plan: Get Humans to Mars, and Beyond". New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Making Life Multi-planetary". relayto.com. 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  11. ^ Shontell, Alyson. "Elon Musk Decided To Put Life On Mars Because NASA Wasn't Serious Enough". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  12. ^ Stephen Clark (28 September 2008). "Sweet Success at Last for Falcon 1 Rocket". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  13. ^ Kenneth Chang (25 May 2012). "Space X Capsule Docks at Space Station". New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  14. ^ a b "Launch Schedule". Archived from the original on 16 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Space Station – off the Earth, for the Earth". Archived from the original on 3 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  16. ^ William Graham (13 April 2015). "SpaceX Falcon 9 launches CRS-6 Dragon en route to ISS". NASASpaceFlight. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  17. ^ Matthew Weaver (22 December 2015). ""Welcome back, baby": Elon Musk celebrates SpaceX rocket launch – and landing". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  18. ^ "SpaceX rocket successfully lands on ocean drone platform for third time". The Guardian. 8 April 2016. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  19. ^ Loren Grush (19 May 2016). "SpaceX successfully lands its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating drone ship again". The Verge. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  20. ^ Amos, Jonathan. "Success for SpaceX "re-usable rocket"". bbc.com. BBC. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  21. ^ Patel, Neel. "SpaceX now operates the world's biggest commercial satellite network". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  22. ^ Lauer, Alex. "SpaceX Is the New King of Commercial Satellites, and It's Just Getting Started". Insidehook. Archived from the original on 9 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  23. ^ Chris Gebhardt (29 September 2017). "The Moon, Mars, and around the Earth – Musk updates BFR architecture, plans". Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  24. ^ Musk, Elon (1 March 2018). "Making Life Multi-Planetary". New Space. 6 (1): 2–11. Bibcode:2018NewSp...6....2M. doi:10.1089/space.2018.29013.emu.
  25. ^ Elon Musk (29 September 2017). Becoming a Multiplanet Species (video). 68th annual meeting of the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia: SpaceX. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via YouTube.CS1 maint: location (link)
  26. ^ "Mars Presentation | 2016". relayto.com. 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018.
  27. ^ "Elon Musk says moon mission is "dangerous" but SpaceX's first passenger isn't scared". cbsnews.com. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  28. ^ Miles O'Brien (1 June 2012). "Elon Musk Unedited". Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  29. ^ John Carter McKnight (25 September 2001). "Elon Musk, Life to Mars Foundation". Space Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  30. ^ Elon Musk (30 May 2009). "Risky Business". IEEE Spectrum. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  31. ^ Elon Musk on dodging a nervous breakdown. YouTube. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  32. ^ a b c d Andrew Chaikin (January 2012). "Is SpaceX Changing the Rocket Equation?". Air & Space Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  33. ^ a b Ashlee Vance (14 May 2015). "Elon Musk's space dream almost killed Tesla". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  34. ^ "How Steve Jurvetson Saved Elon Musk". Business Insider. 14 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  35. ^ "SpaceX". NASA Space Academy at Glenn. Archived from the original on 8 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  36. ^ Elon's SpaceX Tour – Engines. YouTube. 11 December 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  37. ^ SpaceX and Daring to Think Big – Steve Jurvetson. YouTube. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  38. ^ Michael Belfiore (1 September 2009). "Behind the Scenes With the World's Most Ambitious Rocket Makers". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  39. ^ Foust, Jeff (14 November 2005). "Big plans for SpaceX". The Space Review. Archived from the original on 24 November 2005. Retrieved 14 November 2005.
  40. ^ "Diane Murphy joins SpaceX as Vice President of Marketing and Communications" (Press release). SpaceX. 10 July 2008. Archived from the original on 13 July 2010.
  41. ^ Messier, Doug (16 October 2013). "ISPCS Morning Session: Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2015. Gwynne Shotwell says that SpaceX is now up to about 3,800 employees, counting contractors working for the company... 600 more people to hire in next couple months. Finding good software people the hardest skills to fill.
  42. ^ "SpaceX's Redmond effort "very speculative"". Seattle Times. 7 November 2015. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  43. ^ Gwynne Shotwell (3 February 2016). Gwynne Shotwell comments at Commercial Space Transportation Conference. Commercial Spaceflight. Event occurs at 2:43:15–3:10:05. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  44. ^ de Selding, Peter B. (14 April 2017). "Blue Origin's older than SpaceX in more ways than one". Space Intel Report. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  45. ^ Foust, Jeff (16 November 2017). "Shotwell: I was the 7th employee at SpaceX. We're up to about 7,000 now. #NewSpaceEurope". Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  46. ^ Crosbie, Jackie (28 September 2016). "Elon Musk Explains Why SpaceX Only Hires Americans". Archived from the original on 23 April 2019.
  47. ^ spacexcmsadmin (27 November 2012). "Company". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  48. ^ a b c d "Company | SpaceX". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  49. ^ Stephen Clark (24 November 2013). "Sizing up America's place in the global launch industry". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  50. ^ Hughes, Tim (13 July 2017). "Statement of Tim Hughes Senior Vice President for Global Business and Government Affairs Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2017.
  51. ^ Chang, Kenneth (30 May 2020). "SpaceX Lifts NASA Astronauts to Orbit, Launching New Era of Spaceflight - The trip to the space station was the first from American soil since 2011 when the space shuttles were retired". New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  52. ^ Wattles, Jackie (30 May 2020). "SpaceX Falcon 9 launches two NASA astronauts into the space CNN". CNN. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  53. ^ "SpaceX-NASA Dragon Demo-2 launch: All your questions answered". indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  54. ^ "Crew Dragon docks with ISS". spacenews.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  55. ^ "SpaceX is launching its first human crew to space Saturday. How coronavirus affected preparations". Los Angeles Times. 27 May 2020. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  56. ^ "Routine Quarantine Helps Astronauts Avoid Illness Before Launch". Space.com. 29 April 2009. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  57. ^ "Space Exploration Technologies Corporation – press". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  58. ^ "Elon Musk – Senate Testimon". SpaceX. 5 May 2004. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  59. ^ AGAINST ALL ODDS - Elon Musk (Motivational Video), archived from the original on 11 June 2020, retrieved 1 June 2020
  60. ^ a b Doug Mohney (26 September 2011). "SpaceX Plans to Test Reusable Suborbital VTVL Rocket in Texas". Satellite Spotlight. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  61. ^ a b "Reusable rocket prototype almost ready for first liftoff". Spaceflight Now. 9 July 2012. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  62. ^ Irene Klotz (27 September 2011). "A rocket that lifts off – and lands – on launch pad". MSNBC. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  63. ^ Agenda Item No. 9, City of Hawthorne City Council, Agenda Bill, September 11, 2018, Planning and Community Development Department, City of Hawthorne, Accessed September 13, 2018
  64. ^ Nelson, Laura J. (21 November 2017). "Elon Musk's tunneling company wants to dig through L.A." latimes.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  65. ^ Elon Musk posted a video of his Boring Company tunnels under L.A., saying people can use them 'in a few months' for free Archived May 11, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Business Insider, May 11, 2018, accessed May 20, 2018
  66. ^ "Nothing 'Boring' About Elon Musk's Newly Revealed Underground Tunnel". cbslocal.com. 11 May 2018. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  67. ^ a b Copeland, Rob (17 December 2018). "Elon Musk's New Boring Co. Faced Questions Over SpaceX Financial Ties". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018. When the Boring Co. was earlier this year spun into its own firm, more than 90% of the equity went to Mr. Musk and the rest to early employees... The Boring Co. has since given some equity to SpaceX as compensation for the help... about 6% of Boring stock, "based on the value of land, time and other resources contributed since the creation of the company".
  68. ^ "SpaceX has published Elon Musk's presentation about colonizing Mars – here's the full transcript and slides". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  69. ^ "Elon Musk revealed a new plan to colonize Mars with giant reusable spaceships – here are the highlights". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  70. ^ "Elon Musk Sets Out SpaceX Starship's Ambitious Launch Timeline". New York Times. 28 September 2019. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020. Mr. Musk, however, has a history of overly optimistic predictions. In Guadalajara in 2016, for example, he said the aim was to send the first cargo flight to Mars in 2022 and the first people there two years later. Those dates are unlikely to be met.
  71. ^ "Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder". Discovery News. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  72. ^ Rory Carroll (17 July 2013). "Elon Musk's mission to Mars". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  73. ^ Douglas Messier (5 February 2014). "Elon Musk Talks ISS Flights, Vladimir Putin and Mars". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  74. ^ Berger, Eric (28 September 2016). "Musk's Mars moment: Audacity, madness, brilliance – or maybe all three". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  75. ^ Foust, Jeff (10 October 2016). "Can Elon Musk get to Mars?". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  76. ^ Boyle, Alan (27 September 2016). "SpaceX's Elon Musk makes the big pitch for his decades-long plan to colonize Mars". GeekWire. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  77. ^ Eric Ralph (18 August 2020). "SpaceX's 99th Falcon launch checks off new rocket booster reuse record [updated]". Teslarati. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  78. ^ Mir Juned Hussain (12 November 2014). "The Rise and Rise of SpaceX". Yaabot. Archived from the original on 30 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  79. ^ a b "Elon Musk's SpaceX makes history by launching a 'flight-proven' rocket". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  80. ^ "SpaceX, In Another First, Recovers US$6 Million Nose Cone From Reused Falcon 9". Fortune.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  81. ^ spacexcmsadmin (29 January 2016). "Zuma mission". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 26 November 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  82. ^ "SpaceX Launches". New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 May 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  83. ^ "SpaceX's 1st Crew Dragon with astronauts docks at space station in historic rendezvous". Space.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  84. ^ Stephen Clark (20 July 2015). "Support strut probable cause of Falcon 9 failure". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  85. ^ "CRS-7 Investigation Update". SpaceX. 20 July 2015. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  86. ^ "NASA Independent Review Team [IRT] SpaceX CRS-7 Accident Investigation Report Public Summary" (PDF). NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018. "… the key technical finding by the IRT with regard to this failure was that it was due to a design error: SpaceX chose to use an industrial grade (as opposed to aerospace grade) 17-4 PH SS (precipitation-hardening stainless steel) cast part (the “Rod End”) in a critical load path under cryogenic conditions and strenuous flight environments. The implementation was done without adequate screening or testing of the industrial grade part, without regard to the manufacturer’s recommendations for a 4:1 factor of safety when using their industrial grade part in an application, and without proper modeling or adequate load testing of the part under predicted flight conditions. This design error is directly related to the Falcon 9 CRS-7 launch failure as a “credible” cause...."
  87. ^ Samantha Masunaga and Melody Petersen (2 September 2016). "SpaceX rocket exploded in an instant. Figuring out why involves a mountain of data". LA Times. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  88. ^ Reem Nasr (20 July 2015). "Musk: This Is What Caused the SpaceX Launch Failure". CNBC. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  89. ^ "SpaceX on Twitter: Update on this morning's anomaly". Twitter. 1 September 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  90. ^ Calandrelli E, Escher A (16 December 2016). "The top 15 events that happened in space in 2016". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  91. ^ Marco Santana (6 September 2016). "SpaceX customer vows to rebuild satellite in explosion aftermath". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  92. ^ Samantha Masunaga (9 September 2016). "Elon Musk: Launch pad explosion is 'most difficult and complex' failure in SpaceX's 14 years". LA Times. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  93. ^ Loren Grush (5 November 2016). "Elon Musk says SpaceX finally knows what caused the latest rocket failure". The Verge. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  94. ^ "Anomaly Updates". SpaceX. 1 September 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  95. ^ "Contact lost with three Starlink satellites, other 57 healthy". SpaceNews.com. 1 July 2019. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  96. ^ "Starlink failures highlight space sustainability concerns". SpaceNews.com. 2 July 2019. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  97. ^ Emily Shanklin (4 August 2008). "SpaceX receives $20 million investment from Founder's Fund" (Press release). SpaceX. Archived from the original on 6 August 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  98. ^ Caleb Melby (12 March 2012). "How Elon Musk Became A Billionaire Twice Over". Forbes. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  99. ^ "Elon Musk Anticipates Third IPO in Three Years With SpaceX". Bloomberg. 11 February 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  100. ^ Jane Watts (27 April 2012). "Elon Musk on Why SpaceX Has the Right Stuff to Win the Space Race". CNBC. Archived from the original on 16 December 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  101. ^ "Privately-held SpaceX Worth Nearly $2.4 Billion or $20/Share, Double Its Pre-Mission Secondary Market Value Following Historic Success at the International Space Station". Privco. 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  102. ^ Ricardo Bilton (10 June 2012). "SpaceX's worth skyrockets to $4.8B after successful mission". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  103. ^ "SpaceX overview on secondmarket". SecondMarket. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012.
  104. ^ "SpaceX raises $1 billion in funding from Google, Fidelity". NewsDaily. Reuters. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  105. ^ Brian Berger (20 January 2015). "SpaceX Confirms Google Investment". SpaceNews. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  106. ^ "SpaceX Is Now One of the World's Most Valuable Privately Held Companies". NY Times. 27 July 2017. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  107. ^ a b Zapata, Edgar. "An Assessment of Cost Improvements in the NASA COTS/CRS Program and Implications for Future NASA Missions" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2019.
  108. ^ "Completed Missions". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  109. ^ Sheetz, Michael (21 February 2020). "SpaceX is looking to raise about $250 million, valuing Elon Musk's space company at $36 billion". CNBC. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  110. ^ Winkler, Rolfe; Pasztor, Andy (15 April 2019). "SpaceX Is Raising $500 Million Amid Internal Questions Over Satellite Internet Business". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  111. ^ Henry, Caleb (24 May 2019). "SpaceX raises over $1 billion through two funding rounds". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  112. ^ Henry, Caleb (23 May 2019). "SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites, begins constellation buildout". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  113. ^ "SpaceX valuation rises to $33.3 billion as investors look to satellite opportunity". CNBC. 31 May 2019. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  114. ^ Sheetz, Michael (27 June 2019). "SpaceX raising over $300 million as new Ontario Teachers' tech fund makes its first investment". CNBC. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  115. ^ Cao, Sissi. "As SpaceX Reaches $36 Billion Valuation, Elon Musk Clarifies Starlink IPO Rumors". Observer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  116. ^ "Elon Musk's SpaceX raises $1.9 billion in funding". REUTERS. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  117. ^ Wattles, Jackie. "SpaceX is now a $46 billion 'unicorn'". CNN Business. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  118. ^ a b "Falcon 9 Overview". SpaceX. 2011. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  119. ^ "The Space Shuttle and Future Space Launch Vehicles". Senate Hearing 108-1001. 5 May 2004. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  120. ^ "SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 1 To Orbit" (Press release). SpaceX. 28 September 2008. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  121. ^ "SpaceX announces the Falcon 9 fully reusable heavy lift launch vehicle" (Press release). SpaceX. 8 September 2005. Archived from the original on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  122. ^ a b c Canadian Press (22 May 2012). "Private SpaceX rocket blasts off for space station Cargo ship reaches orbit 9 minutes after launch". CBC News. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  123. ^ "Falcon Heavy Overview". Space. 2011. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  124. ^ Clark Lindsey (4 January 2013). "NewSpace flights in 2013". NewSpace Watch. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  125. ^ spacexcmsadmin (15 November 2012). "Falcon Heavy". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  126. ^ Rituparna Chatterjee (7 April 2011). "Falcon Heavy: World's most powerful rocket". The Economic Times. Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  127. ^ Shotwell, Gwynne (17 March 2015). "Statement of Gwynn Shotwell President & Chief Operating Officer Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 January 2016.
  128. ^ Wilkins, Alasdair. "Tesla, Falcon 9, Heart of Gold: How Elon Musk Names His Inventions". Inverse. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  129. ^ "SpaceX Draco Thruster Performs Long-Duration Firing and Restart" (Press release). SpaceX. 9 December 2008. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  130. ^ "Falcon 9 Launch Vehicle Payload User's Guide, 2009" (PDF). SpaceX. 2009. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  131. ^ Colangelo, Anthony. "Farewell, Red Dragon". Main Engine Cut Off. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  132. ^ NSF, Chris B.- (25 July 2019). "Spacex official livestream "Starhopper is a test vehicle that SpaceX is using to help develop its Starship Launch System"". @NASASpaceflight. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  133. ^ "SpaceX performs first test of Raptor engine". SpaceNews.com. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  134. ^ Grush, Loren (3 April 2019). "SpaceX just fired up the engine on its test Starship vehicle for the first time". The Verge. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  135. ^ "Big News! SpaceX's Starhopper Test Vehicle Completes First Free Flight!". 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  136. ^ Business, Jackie Wattles, CNN. "SpaceX's Starhopper prototype soars in 150-meter 'hop test'". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  137. ^ Michael Belfiore (18 January 2005). "Race for Next Space Prize Ignites". Wired. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  138. ^ a b Keith Cowing (6 March 2006). "The SpaceX Dragon: America's First Privately Financed Manned Orbital Spacecraft?". SpaceRef. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  139. ^ "NASA selects crew, cargo launch partners". Spaceflight Now. 18 August 2006. Archived from the original on 18 December 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  140. ^ "COTS Demo Flight 1 Press Kit" (PDF). SpaceX. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  141. ^ "Private space capsule's maiden voyage ends with a splash". BBC News. 8 December 2010. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  142. ^ "SpaceX". NASA. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  143. ^ Denise Chow (18 April 2011). "Private Spaceship Builders Split Nearly $270 Million in NASA Funds". Space.com. Archived from the original on 18 December 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  144. ^ a b Koenigsmann, Hans (17 January 2018). "Statement of Dr. Hans Koeningsmann Vice President, Build and Flight Reliability Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2018.
  145. ^ "SpaceX delays commercial crew test flights to latter half of 2018 - SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. 11 January 2018. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  146. ^ "NASA's Commercial Crew Program Target Test Flight Dates". 2 August 2018. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  147. ^ a b Mike Wall (10 September 2015). "'Red Dragon' Mars Sample-Return Mission Could Launch by 2022". Space.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  148. ^ Ralph, Eric (19 July 2017). "SpaceX skipping Red Dragon for "vastly bigger ships" on Mars, Musk confirms". Teslarati. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  149. ^ Bhargav, Sushant (9 September 2017). "Elon Musk Shares the Look of Full-body SpaceX's Spacesuit". TechScoop.in. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018.
  150. ^ Martin, Sean (24 August 2017). "The space suit humans on SpaceX rockets will wear to get to Mars". Express.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  151. ^ Potter, Sean (27 March 2020). "NASA Awards Artemis Contract for Gateway Logistics Services". NASA. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  152. ^ Clark, Stephen. "NASA picks SpaceX to deliver cargo to Gateway station in lunar orbit – Spaceflight Now". Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  153. ^ "Dragon XL revealed as NASA ties SpaceX to Lunar Gateway supply contract". 27 March 2020. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  154. ^ Rand Simberg (8 February 2012). "Elon Musk on SpaceX's Reusable Rocket Plans". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  155. ^ Jacob Aron (17 January 2015). "SpaceX rocket crashes in first attempted boat landing". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  156. ^ Elon Musk (21 December 2015). "Background on tonight's launch". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  157. ^ SpaceX (8 April 2016). CRS-8 | First Stage Landing on Droneship. YouTube. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  158. ^ SpaceX (8 April 2016). CRS-8 Dragon Hosted Webcast – landing clip. YouTube. Event occurs at 26:58. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  159. ^ Peter B. de Selding (5 October 2016). "SpaceX's Shotwell on Falcon 9 inquiry, discounts for reused rockets and Silicon Valley's test-and-fail ethos". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  160. ^ "SpaceX launches first recycled rocket in test of cost-cutting model". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  161. ^ "SpaceX successfully launches, lands a recycled rocket". NBC News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  162. ^ SpaceX (30 March 2017), SES-10 Hosted Webcast, archived from the original on 30 March 2017, retrieved 31 March 2017
  163. ^ SpaceX (4 February 2015), Elon Musk Names SpaceX Drone Ships in Honor of Sci-Fi Legend, archived from the original on 2 June 2020, retrieved 31 May 2020
  164. ^ "Elon Musk's Mars dream hinges on a giant new rocket". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  165. ^ "SpaceX signs first private passenger to fly around the moon". Reuters. Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  166. ^ "SpaceX reveals mystery moon passenger, and he's a billionaire". CNET. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  167. ^ "SpaceX Upcoming Missions". Spacexnow.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  168. ^ Daniel Terdiman (9 March 2013). "Elon Musk at SXSW: 'I'd like to die on Mars, just not on impact'". CNET. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  169. ^ Alex Hern (2 June 2016). "Elon Musk: 'Chances are we're all living in a simulation'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  170. ^ Sarah Fecht (2 June 2016). "Elon Musk Wants To Put Humans On Mars By 2025". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  171. ^ "Here's Why Investor Steve Jurvetson Saved Elon Musk's Space Dreams". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  172. ^ Cecilia Kang, Christian Davenport (9 June 2015). "SpaceX founder files with government to provide Internet service from space". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  173. ^ Jeff Stone (10 June 2015). "Elon Musk's SpaceX Plans To Launch 4,000 Satellites, Broadcasting Internet To Entire World". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  174. ^ Peter B. de Selding (19 January 2015). "SpaceX To Build 4,425 Broadband Satellites in Seattle". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  175. ^ Caleb Henry (2 March 2017). "FCC gets five new applications for non-geostationary satellite constellations". Space News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  176. ^ SpaceX Services Application for Blanket-licensed Earth stations Archived May 29, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, SES-LIC-INTR2019-00217, SpaceX, February 1, 2019, accessed February 9, 2019.
  177. ^ "Falcon 9 launches first Starlink mission – heaviest payload launch by SpaceX to date – NASASpaceFlight.com". Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  178. ^ Alan Boyle (15 June 2015). "Elon Musk's SpaceX Plans Hyperloop Pod Races at California HQ in 2016". NBC. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  179. ^ "Spacex Hyperloop Pod Competition" (PDF). SpaceX. June 2015. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  180. ^ "SpaceX Hyperloop website". SpaceX. 10 September 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  181. ^ Muoio, Danielle (27 January 2017). "Elon Musk's Hyperloop contest is happening this weekend – here's a look at all the competing pods". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  182. ^ Boyle, Alan (27 August 2017). "Germany's WARR team wins SpaceX's Hyperloop II race with 201-mph pod run". GeekWire. US. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  183. ^ a b Michael Belfiore (20 January 2012). "Inside SpaceX: We Visit the Company's California Headquarters – Slide 3". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  184. ^ Berger, Eric (19 March 2018). "SpaceX indicates it will manufacture the BFR rocket in Los Angeles". arsTechnica. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  185. ^ Masunaga, Samantha. "SpaceX may have big manufacturing plans for the Port of Los Angeles". latimes.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  186. ^ "SpaceX Pulls Out Of Lease With Port Of LA For Mars Rocket Building Site". 16 January 2019. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  187. ^ Gwynne Shotwell (4 June 2014). Discussion with Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO, SpaceX. Atlantic Council. Event occurs at 37:50–38:58. Retrieved 1 March 2017. We are vertically integrated... Metal—in sheet format, in wire format, and in block format—comes into our Hawthorne facility and rocket stages roll out... eliminating the exponential G&A and fee additions [that are experienced when you have] multiple layers of integration... For every dollar that comes in we spend [about] 63 cents of each dollar of revenue on subcontractors and suppliers, [but at] a lower-level of integration (wires, connectors, raw materials).
  188. ^ Speck, Emilee (28 June 2017). "Port Authority approves SpaceX hangar for rocket storage". ClickOrlando.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  189. ^ a b Ralph, Eric (24 December 2018). "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk: Starship prototype to have 3 Raptors and "mirror finish"". Teslarati. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  190. ^ a b Foust, Jeff (24 December 2018). "Musk teases new details about redesigned next-generation launch system". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  191. ^ Murphy, Mike (10 January 2019). "Elon Musk shows off SpaceX's massive Starship test rocket". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  192. ^ Mosher, Dave (23 January 2019). "SpaceX's giant rocket ship was blown over and damaged by powerful winds in Texas – and Elon Musk says repairs will take weeks". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  193. ^ Jason Paur (10 October 2012). "Inside SpaceX's Texas Rocket-Testing Facility". Wired. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  194. ^ Irene Klotz (2 August 2013). "SpaceX Appetite for U.S. Launch Sites Grows". Space News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  195. ^ "Falcon 9 Launch Vehicle – Payload User's Guide" (PDF). SpaceX. 21 October 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2018.
  196. ^ Chris Bergin (5 April 2011). "SpaceX: Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 tag team set to share 20 launches a year". NASASpaceFlight. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  197. ^ "SpaceX Falcon 9 launches with SAOCOM 1A and nails first West Coast landing – NASASpaceFlight.com". Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  198. ^ Granath, Bob (24 March 2015). "NASA, SpaceX Sign Property Agreement for Historic Launch Pad". NASA. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  199. ^ a b Northon, Karen (19 January 2020). "NASA, SpaceX Complete Final Major Flight Test of Crew Spacecraft". NASA. Archived from the original on 23 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  200. ^ "NASA, Partners Update Commercial Crew Launch Dates – Commercial Crew Program". blogs.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  201. ^ "Gov. Perry Announces State Incentives Bringing SpaceX Commercial Launch Facility, 300 Jobs to the Brownsville Area". Office of the Governor Rick Perry. 4 August 2014. Archived from the original on 29 August 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  202. ^ Eric Berger (4 August 2014). "Texas, SpaceX announce spaceport deal near Brownsville". MySanAntonio.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  203. ^ a b Laura B. Martinez (15 April 2013). "FAA shares SpaceX EIS report". The Brownsville Herald. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  204. ^ Leonard David (15 July 2014). "SpaceX receives FAA approval for proposed spaceport in Texas". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  205. ^ Jeff Foust (22 September 2014). "SpaceX Breaks Ground on Texas Spaceport". Space News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  206. ^ Jeff Foust (1 April 2013). "The great state space race". The Space Review. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  207. ^ Emma Perez-Treviño (24 June 2014). "Mars theme returns in SpaceX land purchases". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  208. ^ Emma Perez-Treviño (23 October 2014). "SpaceX land holdings grow". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  209. ^ "SpaceX adds a big new lab to its satellite development operation in Seattle area". GeekWire. 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  210. ^ Gene (8 July 2016). "SpaceX expands to new 8,000 sqft office space in Orange County, CA". Teslarati. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  211. ^ "SpaceX landing in Orange County". Orange County Register. 8 July 2016. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  212. ^ Grush, Loren (30 December 2019). "When your next door neighbor is a glittering spaceport". The Verge. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  213. ^ Dennis Stone, "NASA's Approach to Commercial cargo and Crew Transportation", Acta Astronautica 63, No. 1-4 (2008):192–97.
  214. ^ "SpaceX wins NASA COTS contract to demonstrate cargo delivery to Space Station with option for crew transport" (Press release). SpaceX. 18 August 2006. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  215. ^ AtlanticCouncil (4 June 2014), Discussion with Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO, SpaceX, archived from the original on 25 January 2017, retrieved 29 March 2018
  216. ^ "Mission Status Center". SpaceFlightNow. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  217. ^ Brendan McGarry (25 May 2012). "SpaceX Becomes First Company to Dock Ship at Space Station". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  218. ^ Kenneth Chang (22 May 2012). "Big Day for a Space Entrepreneur Promising More". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  219. ^ "NASA selects SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster and Dragon spacecraft for cargo resupply services to the International Space Station" (Press release). SpaceX. 23 December 2008. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  220. ^ "NASA Celebrates Dragon's Return". NASA. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  221. ^ Chris Bergin (3 March 2015). "NASA lines up four additional CRS missions for Dragon and Cygnus". NASASpaceFlight. Archived from the original on 30 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  222. ^ Jason Rhian (27 September 2014). "NASA continues Commercial 'push' with CRS extension". Spaceflight Insider. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  223. ^ Peter B. de Selding (24 February 2016). "SpaceX wins 5 new space station cargo missions in NASA contract estimated at $700 million". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  224. ^ Sheetz, Michael (27 March 2020). "SpaceX's most powerful rocket will send NASA cargo to the moon's orbit to supply astronauts". CNBC. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  225. ^ "Private Space Taxi's Crew Escape System Passes Big Hurdle". Space.com. 28 October 2011. Archived from the original on 18 December 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  226. ^ "SpaceX Proposal for Commercial Crew Development Round 2" (PDF). NASA. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  227. ^ Frank, Jr. Morring (25 April 2011). "Five Vehicles Vie For Future Of U.S. Human Spaceflight". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on 9 May 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  228. ^ "NASA Announces Next Steps in Effort to Launch Americans from U.S. Soil". NASA. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  229. ^ Zach Rosenberg (2 March 2012). "SpaceX finishes crucial dress rehearsal before space station launch". FlightGlobal. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  230. ^ "NASA Chooses American Companies to Transport U.S. Astronauts to International Space Station". NASA. 16 September 2014. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  231. ^ "NASA awards SpaceX with crew missions to International Space Station". teslarati.com. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  232. ^ Post, Hannah (16 September 2014). "NASA Selects SpaceX to be Part of America's Human Spaceflight Program". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 15 March 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  233. ^ Post, Hannah (6 May 2015). "Crew Dragon Completes Pad Abort Test". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  234. ^ Shanklin, Emily (4 August 2018). "NASA Astronauts Flying Aboard Crew Dragon". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  235. ^ "Crew demo mission press kit" (PDF). March 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  236. ^ ksmith (4 March 2019). "Crew Dragon Docks at the ISS". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  237. ^ ksmith (8 March 2019). "Crew Dragon Splashes Down in the Atlantic Ocean". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  238. ^ Shannon, Emre Kelly and Joel. "Bad weather postpones historic SpaceX Crew Dragon launch". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 27 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  239. ^ "SpaceX Awarded $100 Million Contract From U.S. Air Force for Falcon I" (Press release). SpaceX. 2 May 2005. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  240. ^ a b "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract to SpaceX" (Press release). NASA. 22 April 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  241. ^ SpaceX’s very first Falcon Heavy launch set for this November Archived July 15, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Darrell Etherington. July 27, 2017
  242. ^ "Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center Certifies SpaceX for National Security Space Missions". USAF. 26 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  243. ^ "U.S. Air Force certifies SpaceX for national security launches". 26 May 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019 – via reuters.com.
  244. ^ "SpaceX undercut ULA rocket launch pricing by 40 percent: U.S. Air Force". Reuters. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  245. ^ Calendrelli E, Escher A (16 December 2016). "The top 15 events that happened in space in 2016". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  246. ^ Mike Gruss (27 April 2016). "SpaceX wins $82 million contract for 2018 Falcon 9 launch of GPS 3 satellite". Space News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  247. ^ a b "Air Force Certifies SpaceX for Missions, Ends Launch Monopoly". Fox News. 27 May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  248. ^ Christian Davenport (26 May 2015). "Air Force certifies Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch national security missions". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  249. ^ "ULA Punts on GPS 3 Launch Contract Long Sought by SpaceX". SpaceNews.com. 16 November 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  250. ^ Gruss, Mike (4 February 2016). "Pentagon disputes ULA claim on why it didn't bid for GPS 3 launch". SpaceNews.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  251. ^ "SpaceX prepares for its first big NRO launch". SpaceNews.com. 26 April 2017. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  252. ^ "SpaceX's low cost won GPS 3 launch, Air Force says". SpaceNews.com. 15 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  253. ^ "ULA, SpaceX secure nearly $650 million in Air Force launch contracts". Florida Today. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  254. ^ Erwin, Sandra (19 February 2019). "Air Force awards $739 million in launch contracts to ULA and SpaceX". Space News. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  255. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  256. ^ Clark, Stephen. "Space Adventures announces plans to fly private citizens on SpaceX crew capsule – Spaceflight Now". Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  257. ^ Shelley, Tom (18 February 2020). "Apollo 9 went to 500km apogee. Target for this mission is higher – like Gemini X1 >1,000km". @thetomshelley. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  258. ^ "Thanks To SpaceX, Kazakhstan Sends 2 Satellites Into Space". caspiannews.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  259. ^ "SpaceX launches 64 satellites at once". phys.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  260. ^ Kazakhstan chooses SpaceX over a Russian rocket for satellite launch Archived July 16, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Eric Berger, Ars Technica. November 6, 2018.
  261. ^ "Transporting two Kazakh satellites aboard Falcon 9 will cost $1.3 million". astanatimes.com. 10 November 2018. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  262. ^ Jonathan Amos (3 December 2013). "SpaceX launches SES commercial TV satellite for Asia". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  263. ^ Michael Belfiore (9 December 2013). "The Rocketeer". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  264. ^ Doug Messier (14 January 2014). "Shotwell: Reusable Falcon 9 Would Cost $5 to $7 Million Per Launch". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  265. ^ a b Peter B. de Selding (12 January 2015). "Arianespace, SpaceX Battled to a Draw for 2014 Launch Contracts". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  266. ^ Peter B. de Selding (14 April 2014). "Europe's Satellite Operators Urge Swift Development of Ariane 6". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  267. ^ Amy Svitak (11 February 2014). "Arianespace To ESA: We Need Help". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  268. ^ Peter B. de Selding (14 April 2014). "Satellite Operators Press ESA for Reduction in Ariane Launch Costs". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  269. ^ David Ramli (19 May 2015). "NBN launcher Arianespace to cut jobs and costs to fight SpaceX". The Sydney Morning Herald BusinessDay. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  270. ^ François Némo (3 June 2015). "Airbus dans la Silicon Valley : une occasion manquée pour l'Europe" (in French). lesechos.fr. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  271. ^ Melody Petersen (25 November 2014). "SpaceX may upset firm's monopoly in launching Air Force satellites". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  272. ^ "Air Force budget reveals how much SpaceX undercuts launch prices". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  273. ^ spacexcmsadmin (27 November 2012). "Capabilities & Services". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  274. ^ Andrea Shalal (21 May 2015). "Lockheed-Boeing rocket venture needs commercial orders to survive". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  275. ^ Greg Avery (14 December 2014). "ULA plans new rocket, restructuring to cut launch costs in half". Denver Business Journal. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  276. ^ Melody Petersen (16 October 2014). "Congress OKs bill banning purchases of Russian-made rocket engines". LA Times. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  277. ^ "As the SpaceX steamroller surges, European rocket industry vows to resist". 20 July 2018. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  278. ^ Wattles, Jackie (11 January 2019). "SpaceX to lay off 10% of its workers". CNN. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019.
  279. ^ Sheetz, Michael. "SpaceX launched the most mass to orbit in the first quarter of 2020—nearly three times as much China, which was the second highest and just ahead of Russia". CNBC space reporter. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  280. ^ "NASA and SpaceX set historic first astronaut launch for May 27". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  281. ^ Phillip, David J. (27 May 2020). "SpaceX Launch: Highlights From the Weather-Delayed Mission". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  282. ^ Luscombe, Richard; Sample, Ian (30 May 2020). "SpaceX successfully launches Nasa astronauts into orbit". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  283. ^ Bartels, Meghan (31 May 2020). "SpaceX's 1st Crew Dragon with astronauts docks at space station in historic rendezvous". Space.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  284. ^ Berger, Eric. "Forget Dragon, the Falcon 9 rocket is the secret sauce of SpaceX's success". arstechnicia. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.

External links

  • Quotations related to SpaceX at Wikiquote
  • Official website
  • SpaceX on Twitter & Elon Musk on Twitter
  • SpaceX Instagram & Musk's Instagram
  • SpaceX YouTube