14 mars 2002 - SpaceX is founded

Description:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, was founded on 14th March 2002 by Elon Musk. The entrepreneur had recently made his fortune as co-founder of PayPal, an online payment service, which eBay acquired in the same year for $1.5 billion. Musk founded SpaceX with $100 million of the money he made and became the company's CEO and Chief Engineer.

Musk's long-term vision was to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonisation of Mars. In 2002, SpaceX was just a tiny startup with only a handful of employees. By 2005, however, it had grown to 160 employees.

The company's first rocket, the Falcon 1, was a small-lift launch vehicle standing 21 m (69 ft) tall, with a mass of 28 tons (62,000 lb) and two stages. A first launch attempt in 2006 resulted in engine failure after 33 seconds. Two subsequent launches also failed. However, a fourth flight in 2008 succeeded and became the first privately funded and developed liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit. A fifth launch also reached orbit in 2009, before SpaceX retired the Falcon 1 and focused on developing the much larger Falcon 9.

SpaceX would go on to become a phenomenally successful company – pioneering the use of reusable rockets, which land back on Earth after delivering their payloads to space, significantly reducing the cost of space travel. In addition to Falcon 9, the company developed and manufactured the Falcon Heavy and Starship heavy-lift launch vehicles, the Cargo Dragon and Crew Dragon spacecrafts, and the Starlink satellite mega-constellation.

By the early 2020s, the company had achieved a valuation of more than $100 billion. It had conducted hundreds of Falcon 9 launches, which included many important contracts with NASA, along with a smaller number of Falcon Heavy and Starship rocket launches, with an overall launch success rate of 97.4%.

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