Space Exploration Technologies Corporation also known as SpaceX is American aerospace producer and space transport services industry with its headquarters in Hawthrone, California, USA. The company was formed in 2002 by the former PayPal businessman and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. Elon Musk started off this company with the aim of creating the technologies to make space transportation costs less, and help from the colonization of Mars.
The company has presented two vehicles Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, which was designed with the idea to reuse it again, and the Dragon spacecraft which is launched into the orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with cargo.
SpaceX was the first privately funded, liquid propellant rocket which is the Falcon 1 to reach the orbit, in 2008. In 2010 it was the first company to launch and recover its spacecraft which was named Dragon. In 2012 it was the first company to launch a spacecraft named Dragon to the ISS. In 2013, they launched SES-8 which was the first SpaceX delivery into geosynchronous orbit. In 2015, the company launched it’s first Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) which was the first delivery beyond low Earth orbit for the company. On December 21, 2015, SpaceX was able to return a first stage booster to the ground at Cape Canaveral. It was the first accomplishment by an orbit-capable rocket.
The achievements of the company were acknowledged by NASA, as they were awarded a Commerical Orbita; Transportation Services (COTS) contract in 2006. The purpose behind this was to design and demonstrate a launch system to supply cargos again to the International Space station (ISS). From May 2015 SpaceX has flown six missions to the ISS under a cargo resupply contract.
NASA has also further awarded SpaceX a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (CORS) contract in 2006, in order to make and exhibit a launch system to resupply cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). Since May 2015 SpaceX has flown up to six missions to the ISS under a contract of cargo resupply. Moreover, NASA has also awarded the company a contract in 2011 to form and exhibit a human-rated Dragon as part of its Commerical Crew Development (CCDev) program to supply crew to the ISS.
