Photos of key moments in SpaceX history, from the scrappy startup days to milestone rocket launches

• In 2002, Elon Musk founded a dark-horse company to make rockets reusable, and thus more affordable.
• That company, SpaceX, went public on Friday at a $1.8 trillion valuation, with shares popping out of the gate.
• BI pieced together some of SpaceX's most iconic — and visual — moments since its founding.

Nearly 25 years ago, a mariachi band played at a SpaceX party while Elon Musk posed for a photo. The rocket company's head count was single digits back then. Today, it's over 22,000.

SpaceX started with two long-shot goals: make rockets cheaper to launch and, eventually, send mankind to Mars.

More than two decades later, Elon Musk's space company has decisively accomplished the first, and went public on Friday at a historic $1.8 trillion valuation. The trading milestone followed years of fiery explosions, reusable-rocket breakthroughs, astronaut flights, and the rise of Starlink, its golden goose satellite-internet business.

From the scrappy startup days to fiery launches (and plenty of explosions) and catching a returning rocket in giant mechanical pincers, these photos and videos show SpaceX's rise to IPO juggernaut.

2002: SpaceX is born

Using part of the fortune he made from PayPal, Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 in an El Segundo, California, warehouse. The company sought to challenge entrenched players in the rocket industry — including Lockheed Martin and Boeing — and make space travel less expensive.

Those dreams had a meager beginning.

"SpaceX was less than 10 people back then," Musk wrote on X. "We didn't even have office furniture."

2002-2006: building the Falcon 1

SpaceX developed its first space-bound rocket, the Falcon 1, between 2002 and 2006. It cost about $100 million for the company to design and build.

2003: A Washington DC display

SpaceX trucked its first Falcon rocket across the country and displayed it outside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, in December 2003.

The rocket display on Independence Avenue was one of the first stunts that introduced the fledgling startup to federal lawmakers.

2006-2008: The first three launches fail

The Falcon rocket's maiden voyage in March 2006 ended in failure because a fuel-line leak caused an engine fire. The ill-fated flight lasted around one minute.

The Falcon's next two attempts also failed at liftoff, pushing the company to the brink of collapse.

2008: First successful Falcon launch

On September 28, 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit. SpaceX flew Falcon 1 once more, successfully launching RazakSAT on July 14, 2009, its final Falcon 1 mission.

2010: Falcon 9 and Dragon

SpaceX followed Falcon 1 with the much larger Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon, a spacecraft developed first to carry cargo to orbit and later adapted to carry astronauts.

2012: Dragon reaches ISS

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on May 25, 2012, becoming the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with and berth at the orbiting laboratory.

2015: First successful landing of a Falcon 9 after an orbital launch

SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at Cape Canaveral in December 2015 after launching satellites to orbit.

2016: Falcon 9 explosion

A Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a Florida launchpad during a preflight test in September 2016, when methane propellant was ignited. The blast destroyed the rocket and its payload, including satellites from Facebook.

2016: First successful drone ship landing

SpaceX had already proven it could land a Falcon 9 booster back on solid ground. In April 2016, it pulled off a harder trick: landing one on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean after launching a Dragon cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station.

The landing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You showed SpaceX could recover boosters, even on missions where the rocket did not have enough fuel left to return to land.

2018: Falcon Heavy and Starman

The Falcon Heavy rocket tugged a Tesla Roadster carrying a driver-side mannequin nicknamed "Starman" (named after the David Bowie song) into space.

The cherry-red 2010 Roadster was once Musk's daily driver before it was launched out of Earth's atmosphere.

2019: Starlink satellite launch

SpaceX launched its first large batch of Starlink satellites in May 2019, sending 60 internet-beaming spacecraft into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

2019: Starship reveal

In September 2019, Musk first revealed a towering stainless-steel Starship prototype in Boca Chica, Texas. Starship, paired with its Super Heavy booster, was designed to be a fully reusable transportation system.

SpaceX hopes the vehicle is capable of carrying people and cargo to orbit, the moon, Mars, and beyond.

2020: First crewed launch

SpaceX hurled NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station in May 2020, marking the first time the company had sent people to orbit.

The Demo-2 mission also restored NASA's ability to launch astronauts from US soil for the first time since the space shuttle retired in 2011.

2021: First private SpaceX customers go to space

In September 2021, SpaceX launched Inspiration4, a three-day orbital mission crewed entirely by private citizens. Billionaire Jared Isaacman (now the NASA administrator) commanded the flight, joined by Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, and Chris Sembroski aboard a Crew Dragon capsule.

The mission circled Earth. You can watch their journey in the Netflix documentary "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space."

2024: Move to Texas

Musk, increasingly frustrated with California politics, moved his rocket company to Texas in 2024.

The announcement underscored how central South Texas had become to SpaceX's future. What began as a remote testing ground for Starship had grown into the company's main hub, with launch towers, production facilities, and a rapidly expanding local footprint.

2024: Starship booster catch

In one of SpaceX's most audacious moves yet, the company caught a returning Super Heavy booster with the launch tower's mechanical arms for the first time in October 2024.

Seriously, watch the video for this moment — it's worth it.

2026: SapceX acquires xAI

Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk's artificial-intelligence startup. The move folded several major pieces of his business empire — also including X, formerly known as Twitter — into the rocket company.

May 2026: Starship's first V3 test flight

SpaceX launched Starship Flight 12, the upgraded version of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster, from Starbase, Texas, on May 22, 2026. The test marked the first test flight of the company's V3 vehicles and Raptor 3 engines. SpaceX describes Starship as the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.

The flight showed SpaceX was continuing to push toward a fully reusable giant rocket system. The Starship upper stage reached space and completed a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Still, the flight had problems. The Federal Aviation Administration required SpaceX to conduct a mishap investigation after an issue involving the Super Heavy booster during its return over the Gulf of Mexico after stage separation. A return to flight depends on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety. The FAA said there were no reports of public injury or damage to public property.

June 2026: SpaceX IPO

The once-nearly bankrupt SpaceX hit the public market with a valuation of $1.8 trillion.

"It is certainly hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now going public with the largest IPO ever," he said during a speech on Friday. "If people had told me this was going to happen, I was like, 'Man, you must be smoking some really good crack, because I think this company is going to fail.'"

He said he gave SpaceX a less than 10% chance of succeeding.