More than two decades after SpaceX’s launch, founder Elon Musk looks back at the company’s extraordinary journey. What started as an ambitious dream of making space exploration affordable in 2002 has now become a pioneer in the aerospace industry.
On Friday, the billionaire responded to a post on X (formerly Twitter) that showed off the company’s developments. The post showed two side-by-side images: one from the early stages of SpaceX, showing Mr Musk working in a cluttered laboratory filled with metal parts and scrap, and the other showing the launch of a Starship rocket Is. The caption reads, “How it started vs. how it’s going.”
Responding to the post, Mr Musk replied, “We’ve come a long way.”
we’ve come a long way
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 17 January 2025
A SpaceX Starship prototype malfunctioned minutes after launch from Texas on Friday, disrupting airline routes over the Gulf of Mexico to avoid possible debris.
SpaceX’s mission control lost contact with the advanced Starship, which was carrying its first test payload of simulated satellites, about eight minutes after liftoff from the company’s South Texas facilities. The footage shows a bright orange light in the sky over Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with smoke trailing behind it.
Despite this, SpaceX’s Starship program has had several significant successes since its inception. The fourth flight test, conducted on June 6, 2024, marked a significant milestone when the Super Heavy booster executed a soft splashdown in the ocean, and the Starship upper stage survived atmospheric reentry. The successful test concluded with a controlled splashdown.
The fifth flight test, scheduled for October 13, 2024, was another milestone for SpaceX. In this mission the Super Heavy booster was successfully captured upon returning to the launch site. The Starship upper stage completed a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
On November 19, 2024, SpaceX conducted a sixth flight test, which was another successful attempt. This flight demonstrated the first successful space launch of the Raptor engine.
