The SpaceX Revolution

When Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, the aerospace industry gave it almost no chance. Rockets were built by governments and defense contractors with budgets in the billions. SpaceX's first three Falcon 1 launches failed. The fourth, in September 2008, succeeded — and the company never looked back.

The key breakthrough was reusable rockets. The Falcon 9 first stage lands itself after delivering its payload to orbit, a feat previously considered impractical. Reusability slashed launch costs from over $50,000 per kilogram to under $3,000.