Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (doing business as SpaceX) is an American aerospace manufacturer, space transportation services and communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.
SpaceX manufactures the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, several rocket engines, Cargo Dragon, crew spacecraft and Starlink communications satellites.
SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit around Earth, the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft, the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, the first vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing for an orbital rocket, the first reuse of an orbital rocket, and the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the International Space Station.
SpaceX has flown the Falcon 9 series of rockets over one hundred times.
SpaceX is developing a satellite internet constellation named Starlink to provide commercial internet service.
In January 2020, the Starlink constellation became the largest satellite constellation ever launched.
The company is also developing Starship, a privately funded, fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch system for interplanetary spaceflight.
Starship is intended to become SpaceX's primary orbital vehicle once operational, supplanting the existing Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon fleet.
Starship will have the highest payload capacity of any orbital rocket ever on its debut, scheduled for the early 2020s.
Last Updated on 2 years by pinc