EST. 2002 — HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA
The improbable story of SpaceX — from three failed launches to rockets caught from the sky.
01 / THE WHY
Three failures from extinction. One landing from history.
02 / THE JOURNEY
Elon Musk founds Space Exploration Technologies with a heretical goal: cut the cost of reaching orbit by a factor of ten — and one day, Mars.
Three failures leave the company weeks from bankruptcy. Falcon 1's fourth flight reaches orbit — the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to do so. NASA calls with a $1.6B contract.
Falcon 9 flies. Months later, Dragon becomes the first commercial spacecraft ever recovered from orbit — a club previously reserved for nations.
Dragon berths with the International Space Station — the first commercial vehicle in history to visit the orbiting laboratory.
December 21. An orbital-class booster returns from space and lands standing up at Cape Canaveral. Reusability stops being a theory.
The most powerful operational rocket lifts off; its twin boosters land side by side in choreography. A cherry-red Roadster sails past the orbit of Mars.
Crew Dragon carries Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS — the first crewed orbital flight by a private company, returning human launch to American soil.
A 71-meter Super Heavy booster falls back from the edge of space — and the launch tower's chopstick arms catch it in mid-air, on the first try.
Starship is built for one destination above all. The next chapter of this story isn't written on Earth.
03 / IN NUMBERS
04 / THE FLEET
The workhorse
Three cores, one giant
Crew & cargo, round trip
The Mars ship
INTERACTIVE — 3D
A true-to-life 3D recreation of a Falcon 9 mission — ignition, Max-Q, stage separation, boostback, and the landing, all in your hands.
Enter launch control→
05 / WHAT'S NEXT
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great — and that's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about.”
— Elon Musk
The next chapter is being written 225 million kilometers away.