14 big moments in the history of Elon Musk's SpaceX — from nearly going bankrupt in 2008 to the fiery Starship explosion

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk next to a picture of a Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk beside a Falcon 9 launch.
  • SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded on Thursday, but it's far from the company's first hiccup.
  • In 2008, the company almost went under after three failed attempts to launch its rocket into orbit.
  • Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. It has since become one of the most successful private companies.
Elon Musk was inspired to start building his own rockets in 2001 after a Russian rocket designer spat on his shoes.
Elon Musk, multi millionaire, rocket scientist, Tesla and Space X founder and the man who inspired Tony Stark's character in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" at his desk March 19, 2004 in El Segundo, Los Angeles, California
Elon Musk at his desk in 2004.

"This act so completely offended Elon that he decided on the flight home that he would start his own rocket company to compete with them," former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver wrote in a book about the commercialization of space. "If Helen of Troy had a face that launched a thousand ships, this was the spit that launched a thousand spaceships."

At the time, Musk was visiting Russia in order to negotiate a deal to buy space rockets for a future mission to Mars. He initially had wanted to create a greenhouse on the red planet called the "Mars Oasis."

SpaceX cofounder Jim Cantrell also recalled the incident in a Channel 4 documentary that aired in May and in a biography on Musk by Ashlee Vance, "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."

SpaceX was founded as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation less than a year later in 2001, and Musk has continued his rivalry with Russia for decades — eventually turning SpaceX into a competitor to Russia's Soyuz rocket.

Sources: Insider,  "Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age," "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."

SpaceX first rocket — Falcon 1 — was unveiled in 2005.
spacex falcon 1 omelek island kwajalein atoll
SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket sits on the launch pad awaiting liftoff at the U.S. Military's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site.

Musk named the rocket Falcon in a nod to the Millennium Falcon from "Star Wars." Falcon 1 was an expendable two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle that cost about $100 million to build.

The company unveiled its second spaceship, the Dragon, a year later, naming it after the hit song "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary. Musk said he used the name because many considered his vision for the company impossible.

At the time, the company was one of very few to attempt to make a commercial space rocket.

By 2006, Musk — who had made millions when PayPal sold to eBay — had invested a third of his fortune into the space venture. The company also received $278 million from NASA under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, as well as funding for its first two Falcon launches from the United States Department of Defense.

Sources: Wired, NASA,  SpaceReview

 

Between 2006 and 2008 SpaceX had three failed launch attempts that Musk has said almost ended the company.
YouTube video of SpaceX's third flight with the Falcon 1 on August 2, 2008.
YouTube video of SpaceX's third flight with the Falcon 1 on August 2, 2008.

In 2006, SpaceX's first launch attempt failed as a result of a fuel leak and resultant fire. A later review of the launch vehicle found that a fuel-line nut had corroded due to nearby ocean spray. SpaceX altered its design to replace aluminium hardware with stainless steel as a result.

The next two launches executed the first stage of flight, but encountered issues after separation that prevented the spacecraft from reaching orbit.

SpaceX almost went bankrupt as a result of the failed attempts.

At the same time, Musk was also facing issues with financing at Tesla and reportedly "waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain" due to the stress, according to Eric Berger's book about SpaceX, "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX."

 

Sources: Space.com, SpaceX, "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX"

SpaceX's fourth flight represented the company's last chance, as funding was beginning to run dry.
Elon Musk, the co-founder of SpaceX, a private space exploration company based in Hawthorne, CA, watches the liftoff of Falcon1 rocket from Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, September, 29, 2008. Falcon 1 was the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit Earth.
Elon Musk watches the liftoff of Falcon 1 rocket in September 2008.

The Falcon 1's first successful launch was on September 28, 2008 from Omelek Island in the Marshall Islands. It was also the first successful orbital launch from a privately funded company, representing a major shift in an industry that had been dominated by government programs.

No major changes were made to the rocket between the third and forth launch, but SpaceX did increase the time between first-stage burnout and second-stage separation as the previous failure had been attributed to a timing issue.

SpaceX's rocket launches are divided into two stages. The first stage is the booster, which makes a big push to a certain altitude and then falls away. The second stage continues on and pushes the spaceship into orbit.

"I messed up the first three launches. The first three launches failed," Musk said in an interview nine years later. "That was the last money that we had for Falcon 1. That fourth launch worked. Or it would have been — that would have been it for SpaceX. But fate liked us that day."

Following the company's first successful launch, SpaceX was able to secure more funding from NASA, as well as some private investors.

The Falcon 1 rocket was retired after its fifth launch in 2009.

Sources: Space.com, CNBC, "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX"

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station in 2012.
The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is moved into position for docking with the International Space Station May 25, 2012
The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is moved into position for docking with the International Space Station May 2012.

It was the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to ISS, and led to several more contracts between NASA and SpaceX.

Dragon 1 flew 23 cargo missions to ISS until it was retired in 2020. SpaceX began developing Dragon 2 — a version that would be able to carry astronauts, as well as cargo — in 2014.

Sources: SpaceX, CNET, EndGadget

SpaceX faced its second major setback in 2015 when the Falcon 9 exploded two minutes into the flight.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, June 28, 2015. The rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station broke apart shortly after liftoff.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying supplies to the International Space Station, broke apart shortly after liftoff.

The rocket was carrying supplies to ISS when it broke apart shortly after liftoff.

The problem was traced to a steel strut that contained a helium pressure vessel and broke apart from the spacecraft due to the force of the liftoff. 

The Falcon 9 had a second failure in 2016 when the rocket exploded during the pre-launch static fire test.

Source: Los Angeles Times, NBC

 

 

 

SpaceX achieved its first successful recovery of the first stage of a rocket a few months later.
Photographers set up remote cameras preparing to cover the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket launch at complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, July 17, 2016. The Falcon 9 scheduled to liftoff early Monday, is headed to the International Space Station with 5,000 pounds of supplies.
Photographers set up remote cameras preparing to cover the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket launch at complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

In 2016, SpaceX successfully recovered the first stage of another Falcon 9 rocket on an autonomous spaceport drone ship located in the Atlantic Ocean.

Recovering and reusing the first stage of rockets allows SpaceX to reduce its costs by about 30%, Musk has said.

Within the year, Musk's space venture began offering to transport payloads using the reused first stage for a 10% discount. The company launched its first reused Falcon 9 in 2017.

Sources: CNBC, SpaceNews, The Washington Post

In 2018, Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into space using SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket.
In this handout photo provided by SpaceX, a Tesla roadster launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket with a dummy driver named "Starman" heads towards Mars.
In this handout photo provided by SpaceX, a Tesla roadster launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket with a dummy driver named "Starman" heads towards Mars.

The red sports car was occupied by a mannequin in a spacesuit, dubbed "Starman."

The electric car was sent into space as a test load. At the time, Musk said he wanted the dummy payload to be the "silliest thing we can imagine."

The car is still in orbit — making it the fastest sports car to ever exist. There's even a website that tracks the car's space journey. As of December 20, the Roadster was over 200 million miles from earth, moving away from the planet at a speed of 6,473 miles per hour, according to whereisroadster.com.

Source: CNN, whereisroadster.com

SpaceX hit a major milestone in 2020 when the company brought human spaceflight back to the US for the first time in years.
In this June 26, 2020 photo made available by NASA, spacewalkers Bob Behnken, foreground left, and Chris Cassidy, foreground right, are suited up with assistance from Expedition 63 Flight Engineers Doug Hurley, center left, and Ivan Vagner in the International Space Station. On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, SpaceX and NASA cleared the Dragon crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head home after a two-month flight.
Spacewalkers Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy are suited up with assistance from Expedition 63 Flight Engineers Doug Hurley and Ivan Vagner in the International Space Station.

SpaceX launched its new Crew Dragon spacecraft using its Falcon 9 rocket on May 30, 2020 with two astronauts onboard, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. The men were the first humans to ever take off on a SpaceX rocket.

It was also the first time the US had launched an astronaut into orbit on a new spacecraft since the inaugural space shuttle launch in 1981.

The mission was a result of NASA's Commercial Crew space program, which was designed to spur the development of private launch vehicles after the agency officially retired its Space Shuttle in 2011.

Later that year, NASA certified SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon human spaceflight system for crew missions to and from ISS – meaning the US would no longer have to rely solely on Russia's Soyuz rocket to transport US astronauts to and from the space station.

Source: Space.com, NASA

Starship, which SpaceX is designing to one day build settlements on Mars, completed a suborbital test flight without exploding for the first time in May 2021.
fiery exploding starship in the air juxtaposed with starship steaming on the ground
Four earlier prototypes of Starship exploded when SpaceX launched them (left), but the fifth one stuck the landing (right).

Musk's long-term ambitions are to populate Mars by building self-sustaining settlements there. To send enough people and materials all the way to the red planet, SpaceX needs a powerful and completely reusable rocket. Enter Starship-Super Heavy.

Starship is the cornerstone spacecraft of Musk's plans beyond Earth. NASA has picked it to land the first astronauts on the moon since 1972. And Musk has described a vision of one day building 1,000 Starships to fly regular shuttle trips to and from Mars. 

With Starship, SpaceX aims to make the rocket's second stage reusable — something that it accomplished with Falcon 9's first stage. That would make the launch system fully reusable, which has never been done before.

Starship had a rocky start at its development facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, where SpaceX began launching prototypes 6 miles high to ensure they could fly and land themselves in one piece. The first four prototypes exploded, either in mid-air, by crashing into the landing pad, or 10 minutes after touchdown.

But the fifth Starship landed in one piece, proving that SpaceX could reuse the second-stage spacecraft of its Mars launch system. That full reusability could slash the cost of reaching space by "a factor of 100 or more," Musk has said.

Source: Insider

Almost two years later, SpaceX attempted to launch Starship into orbit for the first time and it exploded mid-air.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket explodes after launch from Starbase on April 20, 2023.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket explodes after launch from Starbase on April 20, 2023.

The rocket was launched on Thursday usings the company's giant Super Heavy booster. The megarocket, which was unpiloted, launched and flew successfully for nearly three minutes. Starship was then supposed to separate from the booster and continue its journey into space, but instead it spiraled downwards and exploded.

SpaceX announcer and engineer John Insprucker said on the company's livestream that the rocket "experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly."

It was the first time the Starship and Super Heavy flew together and it's unclear what caused the issue. The rocket was supposed to spend about an hour at orbital heights and splash back down in the ocean, but SpaceX engineering manager Kate Tice said during the broadcast that it was a success the rocket even cleared the launch tower.

Musk congratulated the SpaceX team on an "exciting" launch and had previously said the launch had a 50% chance of success.

Sources: Insider, Insider

In 2021, SpaceX launched its first all-civilian spaceflight, Inspiration4.
inspiration4 crew members screaming joy floating weightless inside plane
(Left to right) Christopher Sembroksi, Hayley Arceneaux, Jared Isaacman, and Sian Proctor experience zero-gravity in a plane while training to go to space with Musk's company.

On September 15, 2021, billionaire Jared Issacman chartered a private spaceflight with three other passengers and spent three days in space. The mission launched the Crew Dragon Resilience atop a Falcon 9.

The flight was part of a charitable effort to raise funds and awareness for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and led to over $243 million in donations.

The spaceflight was the first crewed mission to reach orbit without any professional astronauts on board.

Source: Space.com

Over the past two decades, SpaceX has smashed through several records, becoming one of the world's top private space companies.
SpaceX Falcon 9.
SpaceX Falcon 9.

In 2021, SpaceX broke a record for the longest streak of orbital launches without a mission failure or partial failure for a single rocket type after its Falcon 9 completed 101 launches without a snag.

Last, the space venture achieved the highest number of launches of a single rocket type in a year when it successfully launched the Falcon 9 60 times in a year.

SpaceX is also one of the most valuable private companies in the world, with a valuation over $100 billion.

Sources: Guinness World Records, CNBC, SpaceX.com

Outside of rocket launches, SpaceX has also built a sprawling satellite network.
SpaceX Starlink internet terminal next to CEO Elon Musk.
Elon Musk's (pictured right) SpaceX is increasing Starlink internet prices for all customers.

The company has launched about 4,000 of its satellites into Earth's lower orbit with plans to create a network of 42,000 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet.

Since SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019 the company has generated over 1 million users. The satellite internet service was launched across several airlines and cruise companies earlier this year, and it has also proven pivotal for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

SpaceX has spun some of its work into a subsidiary called The Boring Company, which has plans to build underground transportation systems in several US cities.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Space.com

Read the original article on Business Insider


Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/PW9Uyc3
14 big moments in the history of Elon Musk's SpaceX — from nearly going bankrupt in 2008 to the fiery Starship explosion 14 big moments in the history of Elon Musk's SpaceX — from nearly going bankrupt in 2008 to the fiery Starship explosion Reviewed by mimisabreena on Monday, April 24, 2023 Rating: 5

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