SpaceX

SpaceX(spās)

MAKING HISTORY

SpaceX has gained(gān) worldwide attention for a series(ˈsirēz) of historic(-ˈstär-,hiˈstôrik) milestones(ˈmīlˌstōn). It is the only private(ˈprīvit) company capable(ˈkāpəbəl) of returning a spacecraft(ˈspāsˌkraft) from low Earth orbit(ˈôrbət), which it first accomplished(əˈkämpliSHt) in 2010. The company made history(ˈhist(ə)rē) again in 2012 when its Dragon(ˈdragən) spacecraft became the first commercial(kəˈmərSHəl) spacecraft to deliver(dəˈliv(ə)rē) cargo(ˈkärgō) to and from the International Space Station.

SpaceX successfully achieved the historic first reflight(flīt) of an orbital(ˈôrbitl) class rocket in 2017, and the company now regularly(ˈreɡyələrlē) launches flight-proven(pro͞ov) rockets. In 2018, SpaceX began launching Falcon(ˈfalkən,ˈfôl-) Heavy(ˈhevē), the world’s most powerful operational(ˌäpəˈrāSHənl) rocket by a factor of two.

ADVANCING(ədˈvans) THE FUTURE

As one of the world’s fastest growing providers of launch services, SpaceX has secured(səˈkyo͝or) over 100 missions(ˈmiSHən) to its manifest(ˈmanəˌfest), representing(ˌrepriˈzent) over $12 billion on contract. These include commercial satellite(ˈsatlˌīt) launches as well as US government missions. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is flying numerous(ˈn(y)o͞om(ə)rəs) cargo(ˈkärgō) resupply missions to the space station under a series of Commercial Resupply Services contracts. Dragon was designed from the outset to carry humans to space and will soon fly astronauts(ˈastrəˌnôt) under NASA’s(ˈnasə) Commercial Crew(kro͞o) Program, with the first demonstration(ˌdemənˈstrāSHən) flight targeted for January 2019.

Building on the achievements of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is working on a next generation of fully reusable launch vehicles(ˈvēəkəl,ˈvēˌhikəl) that will be the most powerful ever built, capable(ˈkāpəbəl) of carrying humans to Mars and other destinations(ˌdestəˈnāSHən) in the solar(ˈsōlər) system.

https://www.spacex.com/about