SpaceX

SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne, California, is the manufacturer of the Falcon 9 rocket, which is the name of their launch vehicle, and Dragon, which is the capsule spacecraft. Built at the Hawthorn facility, the crafts usually launch from the Vandenberg Air Force base in California. It won a major contract worth $1.6-billion from NASA to undertake 12 cargo supply deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). This contract is under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program and one of the first indications that NASA is very serious to leaving short-haul cargo transportation missions to private firms.

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, SpaceX will aim to restore the American presence in space; consequently, it is the first and currently only private company with the capability to launch significant amounts of cargo into orbit with the objective to dock with the ISS.

Founded in 2002 by the 41-year-old billionaire and CEO Elon Musk, he has invested over US$100 million of his private wealth into the project. The company has grown rapidly, starting with 160+ employees in 2005 and 1100+ in 2010. Elon Musk owns two-thirds of the company through his 70 Million shares worth a total of US$875 million. In February 2012, the company was valued at US$1.3-billion and after the COTS 2+ flight was valued at over US$2.4-billion USD. With the string of successes that the company has enjoyed the estimated worth of the company can only rise over time.

In the first ten years of its operation, SpaceX has had a total funding of around US$1 billion. Elon Musk provided US$100 million, Private Equity US$200 million, other investors US$100 million, NASA US$400 million, and the remainder came from progress payments on long-term launch contracts.

Being a very lean and efficient company, they design and manufacture their own rocket and capsule technology, which places them in a unique position where they can leverage the maximum cost benefit ratio. With an ongoing programme of development and testing, together with a tight control over quality and cost ensures that the company secures future contracts.

Although starting out with the humble and incredibly complex task of delivering and returning cargo from the ISS, SpaceX has some very ambitious goals for the future. They plan to revolutionise access into space, but also have the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

Hawthorn Facility

SpaceX headquarters are in Hawthorn California in a complex measuring over one million square feet in size. It is such a large complex that it has its own atmosphere control. The Hawthorn facility, which used to be the manufacturing site of Boeing 747 aeroplanes, is now the facility for Falcon rockets and Dragon Capsules.

McGregor Rocket Facility

SpaceX designs and tests their rockets at the McGregor Rocket Development Facility in Texas. It is a 600 acre state of the art facility for advanced rockets.

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