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Concept
SpaceX
Summary
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., doing business as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and to colonize Mars. The company manufactures the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship heavy-lift launch vehicles, the Cargo Dragon and Crew Dragon spacecraft, the Starlink mega-constellation satellite and rocket engines.
The company offers commercial satellite-based internet service via its constellation of Starlink satellites, which became the largest-ever satellite constellation in January 2020 and as of June 2023 comprised more than 4,300 small satellites in orbit.
The company is also developing Starship, a fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch system for interplanetary and orbital spaceflight. On its failed first flight in April 2023, it became the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. Starship is intended to become SpaceX's primary orbital vehicle, supplanting the existing Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon fleet.
SpaceX is the first private company to develop a liquid-propellant rocket that has reached orbit; to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station; and to send astronauts to the International Space Station. It is also the first organization of any type to achieve a vertical propulsive landing of an orbital rocket booster and the first to reuse such a booster. The company's Falcon 9 rockets have landed and reflown more than 180 times.
History of SpaceX
In early 2001, Elon Musk donated US$100,000 to the Mars Society and joined its board of directors for a short time. He gave a plenary talk at their fourth convention where he announced Mars Oasis, a project to land a greenhouse and grow plants on Mars. Musk initially attempted to acquire a Dnepr ICBM for the project through Russian contacts from Jim Cantrell.
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