SpaceX发展史
概述

2001年，馬斯克提出了「火星綠洲」概念，想在火星放置微型實驗溫室，用火星土壤種植物。他說：「因此這將是生命旅行過的最遠的旅程。」（"so this would be the furthest that life's ever travelled"）試圖重拾公眾對太空探索的興趣並增加NASA預算（英语：）。
2001年8月，馬斯克在第四屆火星協會大會與Michael D. Griffin（英语：）進行了次全體會議，正式宣布這個送往火星的溫室計劃。
2001年10月，馬斯克與吉姆·坎特雷爾（英语：）和阿德奧·雷西（英语：）前往莫斯科購買翻新的第聶伯運載火箭。
該小組會見了拉沃奇金設計局和ISC Kosmotras（英语：）等。然而，根據坎特雷爾的說法，馬斯克被一位俄羅斯首席設計師吐口水，該團隊空手而歸。
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2002年2月 In February 2002, the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs, bringing Mike Griffin（英语：）, who had worked for the CIA's venture capital arm, IQT電信; NASA's 喷气推进实验室; and was just leaving 軌道科學公司, a maker of satellites and spacecraft. The group met again with Kosmotras（英语：）, and were offered one rocket for US$8 million. However, this was seen by Musk as too expensive and Musk left the meeting. While on the return flight Musk realized that he could start a company which could build the affordable rockets he needed. According to early Tesla and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson（英语：）, Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a rocket actually were only 3 percent of the sales price of a rocket at the time. By applying 垂直整合 — principally for cost reasons; around 85% of the entire Falcon/Dragon vehicle is produced in-house — and the modular approach from software engineering (獵鷹9號運載火箭 uses 9 of the Merlin engines, which were tested on the single-engine 獵鷹1號運載火箭, 獵鷹重型運載火箭 uses three Falcon 9 booster stages), SpaceX could cut launch price by a factor of ten and still enjoy a 70 percent 毛利率. For example, SpaceX had to design a machine that could 搅拌摩擦焊 铝锂合金 for the 机体 of the 獵鷹9號運載火箭 because such a machine did not exist. According to Musk SpaceX started with the 最簡可行產品 (Falcon 1 with about half a ton to orbit) instead of building a more complex and riskier launch vehicle, which could have failed and bankrupted the company.
In early 2002 Musk was seeking staff for the new company and approached rocket engineer 汤姆·穆勒, who would eventually become SpaceX's CTO of Propulsion until 2020. SpaceX was first headquartered in a 75,000 square feet warehouse in 埃尔塞贡多 (加利福尼亚州). Musk decided SpaceX's first rocket would be named 獵鷹1號運載火箭, after their first contract with the DARPA Falcon Project（英语：） and as a nod to Star Wars' 千年隼号. Musk planned for Falcon 1's first launch to occur in November 2003, 15 months after the company started.
2005年1月，SpaceX購買了Surrey Satellite Technology（英语：）10%股份。 By March 2006, Musk had invested 100 million美元 in SpaceX.
2008年8月4日，SpaceX又接受了創始人基金（英语：）2000萬美元的投資。 In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of the company was owned by its founder and his 70 million shares were then estimated to be worth $875 million on 私人股权投资, which roughly valued SpaceX at $1.3 billion as of February 2012. After the COTS 2+（英语：） flight in May 2012, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to $2.4 billion.
On 16 June 2009 SpaceX announced the opening of its Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Department. It hired former 美国国家航空航天局 astronaut Ken Bowersox（英语：） to oversee the department as a vice president of the company. However, it has since been reported that the former astronaut subsequently left SpaceX in late 2011. No reason was given and no replacement in that position has been announced.
2012年，SpaceX宣傳獵鷹9號的發射價格為5700萬美元，而阿麗亞娜航天公司則宣傳每次發射的發射價格為1.37億美元
In 2012 an 首次公开募股 (IPO) was perceived as possible by the end of 2013, but then Musk stated in June 2013 that he planned to hold off any potential IPO until after the "SpaceX星艦研發歷史 is flying regularly", and this was reiterated in 2015 indicating that it would be many years before SpaceX would become a publicly traded company, where Musk stated that "I just don’t want [SpaceX] to be controlled by some private equity firm（英语：） that would milk it for near-term revenue"
The company has grown rapidly since it was founded, growing from 160 employees in November 2005 to more than 500 by July 2008, to over 1,100 in 2010, 1,800 in early 2012,
and 3,000 by early 2013. The company had grown to 3,800 employees and contractors by October 2013, and had "nearly 5,000" in late 2015 and February 2016.
After the setback of the 卡纳维拉尔角空军基地40号航天发射台, SpaceX successfully got back to flying on 14 January 2017, with its 獵鷹9號与獵鷹重型運載火箭發射任務列表. On February 19, 2017, a Falcon 9 carrying CRS-10（英语：） conducted the first launch from Kennedy Space Center's 肯尼迪航天中心39号发射台A. The first stage of the launch planned on the end of February, 2017 will be the recovered and refurbished one from April 8, 2016.表达式错误：预期外的<运算符。
2019年5月23日，SpaceX部署了其計劃約12,000顆衛星的60顆星链 - which it aims to use to provide low latency network communications via a large constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO).
2020年5月30日，SpaceX成功發射兩名NASA宇航員：道格拉斯·赫爾利和Robert Behnken（英语：），into orbit on a 龙飞船2号 spacecraft during 载人龙飞船示范2号, making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station and marking the first crewed launch from American soil in 9 years. The mission launched from Launch Complex 39A（英语：） of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX Demo-2 successfully docked with the 国际空间站 on May 31, 2020 and returned the astronauts safely on Aug 2, 2020.