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SpaceX: the story on HearLore | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · Founding And Early Struggles —
SpaceX.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
In early 2001, Elon Musk met Robert Zubrin and donated to his Mars Society. He gave a plenary talk at their fourth convention where he announced Mars Oasis, a project to land a greenhouse and grow plants on Mars. Musk initially attempted to acquire a Dnepr launch vehicle for the project through Russian contacts from Jim Cantrell. Musk returned with his team to Moscow, this time bringing Michael Griffin, who later became the 11th Administrator of NASA, but found the Russians increasingly unreceptive. On the flight home, Musk announced he could start a company to build the affordable rockets they needed instead. By applying vertical integration, using inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf components when possible, and adopting the modular approach of modern software engineering, Musk believed SpaceX could significantly cut launch costs.
SpaceX was first headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California. Early SpaceX employees, such as Tom Mueller (CTO), Gwynne Shotwell (COO), and Chris Thompson (VP of Operations), came from neighboring TRW and Boeing corporations. By November 2005, the company had 160 employees. Musk personally interviewed and approved all of SpaceX's early employees. The total development cost of Falcon 1 was approximately $100 million. The first three launches of the rocket, between 2006 and 2008, all resulted in failures, which almost ended the company. Financing for Tesla Motors had failed, as well, and consequently Tesla, SolarCity, and Musk personally were all nearly bankrupt at the same time. Musk was reportedly "waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain" because of the stress. The financial situation started to turn around with the first successful launch achieved on the fourth attempt on the 28th of September 2008.
Reusability Revolution Milestones
SpaceX first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage in December 2015 with Falcon 9 Flight 20. In April 2016, the company achieved the first successful landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean. A second major rocket failure happened in early September 2016, when a Falcon 9 exploded during a propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch static fire test. The payload, the AMOS-6 communications satellite valued at $750 million, was destroyed. The explosion was caused by the liquid oxygen that is used as propellant turning so cold that it solidified and ignited with carbon composite helium vessels.
In March 2017, SpaceX launched a returned Falcon 9 for the SES-10 satellite. This was the first time a re-launch of a payload-carrying orbital rocket went back to space. The first stage was recovered again, also making it the first landing of a reused orbital class rocket. By October 2016, following the successful landings, SpaceX indicated they were offering their customers a 10% price discount if they choose to fly their payload on a reused Falcon 9 first stage. As of May 2025, the company's Falcon 9 rockets have landed and flown again more than 450 times, reaching 1, 3 launches a week.
When was SpaceX founded and what project inspired its creation?
SpaceX was founded in early 2001 after Elon Musk announced the Mars Oasis project to land a greenhouse on Mars. The company emerged when Musk decided to build affordable rockets instead of acquiring Russian Dnepr launch vehicles for his initial plan.
What date did SpaceX achieve its first successful rocket landing and recovery?
SpaceX achieved its first successful landing and recovery of a first stage on December 2015 with Falcon 9 Flight 20. This milestone marked a significant technological breakthrough for reusable orbital class rockets.
How many Starlink satellites are currently in orbit as of May 2025?
As of May 2025, the Starlink constellation has over 6,000 satellites in orbit providing consumer internet service. SpaceX launched the first large batch of 60 Starlink satellites in May 2019 to begin deploying this commercial satellite network.
Which private company sent astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time?
SpaceX became the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station during the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission in May 2020. This historic flight carried NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A.
When was the fourth flight test of Starship approved by the FAA?
The Federal Aviation Administration granted launch license for Starship's fourth flight test on the 4th of June 2024. This licensure included a clause allowing subsequent test flights without mishap investigations if similar profiles were maintained.
Construction of initial prototypes and tests for Starship started in early 2019 in Florida and Texas. All Starship construction and testing moved to the new SpaceX South Texas launch site later that year. On the 20th of April 2023, Starship's first orbital flight test ended in a mid-air explosion over the Gulf of Mexico before booster separation. After launch, multiple engines in the booster progressively failed, causing the vehicle to reach max q later than planned. Eventually, the vehicle lost control and spun erratically until the automated flight termination system was activated, which intentionally destroyed the rocket.
On the 14th of March 2024, at 13:25 UTC, Starship launched for the third time and for the first time Starship reached its planned suborbital trajectory. The flight ended with the booster experiencing a malfunction shortly before landing and the ship being lost during re-entry over the Indian Ocean. On the 4th of June 2024, SpaceX received the launch license for Starship's fourth flight test. The licensure itself was notable in that it was the first time that the FAA included a clause that would allow SpaceX to launch subsequent test flights without a mishap investigation, provided that they met a similar launch profile and used the same specification of hardware. On the 12th of October 2024, SpaceX received FAA approval for Starship's fifth flight test. The flight was the first without engine failures, and the first successful tower catch.
Commercial Satellites And Internet
In May 2019, SpaceX launched the first large batch of 60 Starlink satellites, beginning to deploy what would become the world's largest commercial satellite constellation the following year. In 2022, most SpaceX launches focused on Starlink, a consumer internet business that sends batches of internet-beaming satellites and now has over 6,000 satellites in orbit. In December 2022, Starlink reached over 1 million subscribers worldwide.
Customers were told to expect internet service speeds of 50 Mbit/s to 150 Mbit/s and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms. The planned large number of Starlink satellites has been criticized by astronomers due to concerns over light pollution, with the brightness of Starlink satellites in both optical and radio wavelengths interfering with scientific observations. In response, SpaceX has implemented several upgrades to Starlink satellites aimed at reducing their brightness. However, the satellites are equipped with krypton-fueled Hall thrusters which allow them to de-orbit at the end of their life. They are also designed to autonomously avoid collisions based on uplinked tracking data. In September 2025, SpaceX said it would purchase the rights to use some of EchoStar's spectrum for $17 billion in a cash and stock deal.
Human Spaceflight Programs
A significant milestone was achieved in May 2020, when SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts (Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken) into orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft during Crew Dragon Demo-2, making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station and marking the first crewed orbital launch from American soil in 9 years. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in Florida.
The Crew-1 mission was successfully launched to the International Space Station on the 16th of November 2020, with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all members of Expedition 64 crew. On the 23rd of April 2021, Crew-2 was launched to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and K. Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. The Crew-2 mission successfully docked on the 24th of April 2021. SpaceX also offers paid crewed spaceflights for private individuals. The first of these missions, Inspiration4, launched in 2021 on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.
Market Disruption And Competition
SpaceX's low launch prices, especially for communications satellites flying to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), have resulted in market pressure on its competitors to lower their own prices. Prior to 2013, the openly competed comsat launch market had been dominated by Arianespace (flying the Ariane 5) and International Launch Services (flying the Proton). With a published price of $62 million per launch to low Earth orbit, Falcon 9 rockets were the least expensive in the industry.
European satellite operators are pushing the ESA to reduce launch prices of the Ariane 5 and Ariane 6 rockets as a result of competition from SpaceX. 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. To that end, ULA announced a major restructuring of processes and workforce to decrease launch costs by half. 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.
Corporate Culture And Controversies
According to former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver, the company overall has a male-dominated employee culture, similar to that of the spaceflight industry in general. In December 2021, claims of workplace sexual harassment from five former SpaceX employees, ranging from interns to full engineers, were published. The former employees claimed to have experienced unwanted advances and uncomfortable interactions. Additionally, the accounts included claims of a culture of sexual harassment existing at the company and one where complaints made to executives, managers, and human resources officers went largely unaddressed.
In May 2022, a Business Insider article alleged that Musk engaged in sexual misconduct with a SpaceX flight attendant in a private jet in 2016 citing an anonymous friend of the flight attendant. An examination of OSHA's records revealed injury rates higher than the industry's averages. In addition, Reuters documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at SpaceX, including "crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions, head and eye wounds and one death." The person who died was Lonnie LeBlanc, a former United States Marine. In June 2024, eight ex-employees filed documents with the Texas Secretary of State to form the Starbase Volunteer Fire Department, intending to respond to calls within city limits.