SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded in 2002, is an American space technology company and a dominant launch provider. It designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft, including the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon spacecraft, and Starship. SpaceX partners with organizations like NASA and the United States Armed Forces and is known for its advancements in reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight, and satellite constellation technology like Starlink. Key words: launch provider, reusable rockets, space exploration, Starlink, Falcon, Dragon, Starship, NASA.
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SpaceX accounted for 101 of the 109 launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in 2025 using Falcon 9.
Most launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2025 were conducted by SpaceX.
Elon Musk positioned the Moon as a higher-priority intermediate objective than Mars for SpaceX.
Elon Musk posted on X that SpaceX has shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon and estimated that could be achieved in less than 10 years while Mars would take more than 20 years.
In 2016, Elon Musk said passengers could take off for Mars as soon as 2024 if financing and other planning factors for SpaceX rockets came through.
Falcon 9 upper stage dry mass is 4.5 tons according to SpaceX numbers, and the analysis uses 6 tons dry mass to account for tank rigidization, landing legs, and docking mechanisms.
The deorbit vehicle built by SpaceX is intended to enable a precise re-entry of the ISS over the Pacific Ocean far from land and people.
NASA selected SpaceX to build a vehicle to deorbit the ISS and push it back into Earth's atmosphere in 2030 where it will break up.
SpaceX used a new chilldown profile for the deorbit burn on the Starlink Group 17-32 mission.
SpaceX's Crew-12 launch was delayed by 24 hours.
Elon Musk wrote that SpaceX's mission remains to extend human life and consciousness beyond Earth.
SpaceX plans to begin building a Mars city in about 5 to 7 years.
SpaceX is a contractor for NASA.
SpaceX plans to use Kennedy Space Center LC-39A almost exclusively for Falcon Heavy and Starship launches while flying Falcon 9 launches, including crewed missions, from SLC-40.
SpaceX is a contractor on NASA’s Artemis program.
SpaceX estimates building a city on Mars would take more than 20 years.
Industry experts say Artemis 3 will probably be delayed again because the lunar lander in development at SpaceX is not ready.
Then-NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy attributed slow progress on SpaceX’s Starship program to delays in the US timeline to return astronauts to the Moon.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 5:38 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 12 for launch of the Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX is removing the Crew Access Arm from Launch Complex 39A as part of transitioning the pad to support Starship.