In 2002, Elon Musk started Space Exploration Technologies Corp., later shortened to SpaceX after selling PayPal and bec…
By Andreessen Horowitz · AI
In 2002, Elon Musk started Space Exploration Technologies Corp., later shortened to SpaceX after selling PayPal and becoming focused on radically lowering the cost of getting to orbit so humans could eventually settle on Mars. Musk invested roughly $100 million of his own capital, recruited veteran aerospace engineers, and led development of Falcon 1, the company’s first orbital rocket. After three failed launches and nearing bankruptcy, Falcon 1 finally reached orbit in 2008, becoming the…