Connally served in the United States Navy during World War II, first as an assistant to James V. Forrestal. Then, he served again as part of the planning staff for the invasion of North Africa by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He transferred to the South Pacific Theater, where he served with distinction. He was a fighter-plane director aboard the aircraft carrier USS "Essex" and won a Bronze Star for bravery. He was shifted to another Essex class aircraft carrier which was the USS "Bennington". He won a Legion of Merit. He was also involved in the military campaigns in the Gilbert, Marshall, Ryukyu, and Philippine islands. He quit the military in 1946 at the rank of lieutenant commander.
After he was released from the navy, Connally practiced law in the Alvin Wirtz law firm. He quit practicing law when Lyndon B. Johnson, who was a newly elected senator, persuaded him to return to Washington, D.C. to serve as a key assistant. He had close relations with Johnson before he started his navy career and kept them till Johnson's death in 1973.
Connally's main legal customers were the Texas oil wealthy person, Sid W. Richardson and Perry Bass, who was Richardson's nephew and partner, both of Fort Worth. Richardson's family dynasty business at the time was estimated at $200 million to $1 billion. Under Richardson's custody, Connally had experience in many enterprises and received tips on real estate purchases. The work required the Connallys to relocate to Fort Worth. When Richardson died in 1959, Connally was named as the profitable position of co-executor of the estate.
Connally served as Governor of Texas from 1963–1969. In the campaigns of 1964 and 1966, Connally defeated Republicans, Jack Crichton, a Dallas oil industrialist, and Thomas Everton Kennerly, Sr. (1903–2000), of Houston, respectively. He won with margins of 73.8 percent and 72.8 percent, respectively, giving him greater influence with the most of the legistlature being Democratic.
Connally was governor during a time of great expansion of higher education in Texas. He signed into law the creation of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. He appointed members of a governing body who backed the entry of women into previously male Texas A&M University in College Station, having been prompted to take such action by State Senator William T. "Bill" Moore of Bryan, who had first proposed the admission of women to the university in 1953.
On November 22, 1963, Connally was seriously wounded while riding in President Kennedy's car at Dealey Plaza in Dallas when the president was assassinated. He recovered from wounds in his chest, wrist and thigh. The ten-month investigation by the Warren Commission of 1963–1964 concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Oswald had acted entirely alone. Connally did not dispute this conclusion but did for the rest of his life question the single bullet theory. In 1966, he told the press, "I am convinced beyond any doubt that I was not struck by the first bullet," and added, "but just because I disagree with the Warren Commission on this one finding does not mean I disagree with their over-all findings."
Connally died on April 15, 1993 in Houston, Texas from pulmonary fibrosis, aged 76. When Connally died, forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht and the Assassination Archives and Research Center petitioned Attorney General Janet Reno to recover the remaining bullet fragments from Connally's body, contending that the fragments would disprove the Warren Commission's single-bullet, single-gunman conclusion. The Justice Department replied that it "...would have no legal authority to recover the fragments unless Connally's family gave [it] permission." Connally's family refused permission.
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, mostly known as SpaceX, is a space transportation company based in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, who also founded PayPal and Tesla. The company develops rockets that can lift cargo into space, fly it to the International Space Station (ISS), and safely return cargo back to Earth. In December 2010, it became the first private corporation to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. In May 2012 it was the first private company to send a cargo to the ISS, and it returned.
Besides working for NASA, SpaceX launches satellites for the military, private companies, and other countries. In 2009 it launched a low earth orbiting satellite from Falcon 1.
In 2001, Elon Musk proposed a project to land a small greenhouse to grow plants on Mars. He said, "This would be the furthest that life’s ever traveled" in an attempt to regain public interest in space exploration and increase the budget of NASA. Musk tried to buy cheap rockets from Russia but returned empty-handed after failing to find rockets for an affordable price.
Later, Musk realized that he could start a company that could build the rockets he needed. According to early Tesla and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson, Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a rocket were actually 3% of the price of a rocket at the time. By applying vertical integration, producing around 85% of launch hardware in-house, and the modular approach from software engineering, SpaceX could cut launch price by a factor of ten and still enjoy a 70% gross margin.
In early 2002, Musk was seeking workers for his new space company, soon to be named SpaceX. Musk found a rocket engineer Tom Mueller (later SpaceX's CTO of Propulsion). He agreed to work for Musk. That was how SpaceX was born. The first headquarters of SpaceX was in a warehouse in El Segundo, California. The company has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2002, growing from 160 workers in November 2005 to 1,100 in 2010, 3,800 workers and contractors by October 2013, nearly 5,000 by late 2015, and about 6,000 in April 2017.
, the company had grown to nearly 7,000.
In 2016, Musk gave a speech at the International Astronautical Congress, where he explained that the US government uses rocket technology as an "advanced weapon technology", making it difficult to hire non-Americans.
The Falcon 1 was SpaceX's first launch vehicle. It launched a total of 5 times, however only the 4th and final flights were successful. Falcon 1, as the name implies, ran on 1 Kestrel engine and could take a maximum of 670 kilograms to orbit.
Another early vehicle was the canceled Falcon 5, which has 5 Merlin engines on its first stage, and 2 Kestrel on its second stage. It was canceled in 2007 when it was removed from the company's user guide.
The Falcon 9 is an working, reusable two-part rocket that is launched using its nine Merlin engines in its first part and a special Merlin engine that was made for places where there is no air. It is powered by liquid oxygen and fuel made for rockets called RP-1. It can hold up to 22,800 kilograms (50,300 pounds), and can also support SpaceX's Dragon vehicle. It is the first rocket able to get into orbit that can get its first part back to earth.
Falcon Heavy is another working, reuseable rocket similar to Falcon 9. However, the Falcon Heavy has a three-core system for its first part instead of the single-core design of the Falcon 9. With the three cores, the rocket's 1st part has 27 Merlin engines. The second part still only has 1 Merlin(Vacuum Version) engine. Currently, Falcon Heavy is the world's most powerful operating rocket and the 4th most powerful rocket in the world. This added power allows the rocket to be able to put 63,800 kg (140,660 lb) into low earth orbit, and 26,700 kg (58,860 lb) into geosynchronous orbit.