SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), founded by Elon Musk, designs, manufactures, and launches rockets and spacecraft. It developed Falcon 9, the first reusable orbital-class rocket, reducing launch costs through reusability. SpaceX became the first private company to transport cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) using its Dragon spacecraft. It also completed the first all-civilian crewed mission to orbit.

As of December 2024, SpaceX was working on Starship, a fully reusable launch vehicle integrated with the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket. Starship is designed for crew and cargo transportation beyond Earth’s orbit. The maiden launch in April 2023 failed due to a stage separation issue, while a second flight in November 2023 ended in a mid-air explosion but showed significant progress.

In June 2024, SpaceX successfully brought the Starship booster and upper stage back to Earth in controlled splashdowns. The company also launched 20 Starlink satellites and replaced older satellites over Europe with the SES satellite.

In July 2024, SpaceX launched two Starlink missions, but one Falcon 9 launch failed due to an upper-stage malfunction. During the same month, SpaceX launched two Starlink missions to deliver 44 new Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. In September 2024, SpaceX announced plans for uncrewed Mars missions by 2026 and crewed missions by 2028. The following month, the company launched NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft aboard Falcon Heavy to explore Jupiter's moon Europa.

Key customers and partnerships

SpaceX has formed key partnerships with NASA and other government agencies. In April 2021, NASA awarded the company a USD 2.9 billion contract to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. This was followed by a second crewed demonstration landing in November 2022. SpaceX also received additional crew flights to the ISS in September 2022.

In January 2022, SpaceX secured a contract with the US Air Force for a point-to-point space transportation technology demonstration. In October 2022, the European Space Agency (ESA) contracted SpaceX to launch the Euclid space telescope and Hera Probe on Falcon 9 rockets, replacing the original Soyuz launch plans.

In April 2024, SpaceX partnered with Northrop Grumman for a classified reconnaissance satellite mission. In June 2024, the company was awarded a USD 1.5 million contract by NASA for the Mars Sample Return mission and was selected for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 contract alongside Blue Origin and ULA.

SpaceX continued to work with NASA in July 2024, receiving a USD 113 million contract to launch NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System 4 mission. In October 2024, SpaceX secured a USD 733.6 million contract from the US Space Force to conduct seven launches for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer constellation.