Nose to engines · Today → 2002
Every rocket and spacecraft SpaceX has flown, when it first flew, and the first it pulled off. Read it like the rocket on the left: the nose is today, and scrolling down goes back to 2002, when SpaceX was a warehouse and a very long shot.
Tap a category to show only rockets, Dragon and crew missions, Starlink, or company milestones. Want everything Musk has built in one place? See the main timeline.
RocketsComing up
Both the booster and the ship have finished their engine test firings. Launch trackers list no earlier than November 12, but SpaceX hasn’t announced a date. The plan is to catch the booster with the tower’s arms again, and possibly the ship too.
Read more →Starlink
Reported: November 2, 2026
The Washington Post reported that SpaceX has held early talks with EchoStar about buying Boost Mobile, with about 7.4 million customers, or getting access to its network. Boost rents its network from AT&T and T-Mobile, and those deals can’t move to a new owner without their OK. Neither company has confirmed the talks.
Read more →Company
On October 20, SpaceX reports $14.6 billion in revenue and a $4.4 billion profit, with 13.6 million Starlink subscribers. Musk also confirms Tesla and SpaceX are exploring a merger.
Read more →Company
On October 19, Musk pledges to give one of his own SpaceX shares to every kid in America next year, “the first of many”: about $10.5 billion of stock.
Read more →Rockets
September 28, 2026
On its 14th flight, Starship makes it to orbit for the first time and delivers its first 26 V3 Starlink satellites, all confirmed working: about 26 Tbps of new internet capacity from one launch.
Read more →Starlink
September 2026
A new home dish goes into production.
Key feature35% smaller and 62% lighter than the V4 dish, using about half the power.
Read more →Company
In August, SpaceX and NVIDIA announce the chips for AI1, the first satellite in a planned million-satellite AI computing network in orbit.
Read more →Company
June 12, 2026
SpaceX lists on Nasdaq as SPCX at $135 a share, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion: the largest IPO ever. Twenty-four years after nearly running out of money, anyone can own a piece of it.
Read more →Starlink
The FCC approves SpaceX’s $17 billion EchoStar spectrum purchase in May and 15,000 phone satellites in October. On October 8, SpaceX agrees to buy nationwide 800 MHz spectrum for indoor coverage, pending FCC approval.
Read more →Company
In February, SpaceX acquires xAI, which already owns X. In July, xAI is renamed SpaceXAI.
Read more →Starlink
In July, T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service opens, letting ordinary phones text through Starlink satellites where there’s no cell tower.
Read more →Dragon & Crew
March 2025
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, stuck on the Space Station since June 2024 after problems with Boeing’s Starliner, return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon.
Read more →Rockets
October 13, 2024
The launch tower’s giant mechanical arms catch a returning Super Heavy booster out of the air. Most people watching thought it was CGI.
Read more →Dragon & Crew
September 2024
Jared Isaacman leans out of an open Dragon hatch hundreds of miles above Earth.
Key featureThe first spacewalk ever done on a private mission, in new SpaceX-made spacesuits.
Read more →Starlink
In January, the first Direct to Cell satellites launch, and ordinary phones send text messages straight through space with no special hardware.
Read more →Rockets
April 20, 2023
It doesn’t make it to space, but it clears the pad, and SpaceX learns fast.
Key featureThe biggest, most powerful rocket ever built, designed so that both stages can be caught, refueled, and flown again.
Read more →Dragon & Crew
September 2021
Four civilians spend three days in orbit, raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Key featureThe first orbital mission with no professional astronauts on board.
Read more →Rockets
In May, after several prototypes blow up while landing, SN15 flies about 6 miles up, flips sideways, falls back belly-first, and lands upright in one piece.
Starlink
In October, a public beta called “Better Than Nothing” starts in rural areas of the northern U.S. and Canada.
Dragon & Crew
May 30, 2020
Two NASA astronauts launch to the Space Station from Florida.
Key featureThe first crewed orbital launch from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011, and the first ever on a spacecraft built by a private company. It flies itself and docks automatically; touchscreens replace the old walls of switches.
Read more →Starlink
First batch: May 23, 2019
SpaceX launches its first 60 production internet satellites.
Key featureThousands of satellites flying low and close to Earth, so internet signals travel a short distance and feel fast, even where no cable will ever reach.
Read more →Rockets
First flight: February 6, 2018
The first flight carries Musk’s own red Tesla Roadster, with a mannequin called Starman at the wheel, into orbit around the sun.
Key featureThree Falcon 9 first stages strapped together, 27 engines in all: the most powerful rocket flying at the time. The two side boosters land side by side.
Read more →Rockets
March 30, 2017
A booster that had already flown launches a second time and lands again. Reflying rockets soon becomes routine: some boosters now fly more than 25 times.
Read more →Rockets
April 8, 2016
A Falcon 9 booster lands on a drone ship floating in the Atlantic, named “Of Course I Still Love You.” Landing at sea lets boosters come back from heavier, faster missions.
Rockets
December 21, 2015
After a satellite launch, the Falcon 9 first stage flies back to Cape Canaveral and lands upright on its legs. Reusable rockets go from theory to reality overnight.
Read more →Dragon & Crew
May 25, 2012
Astronauts on the station use the robotic arm to grab Dragon and attach it.
Key featureThe first commercial spacecraft ever to visit the International Space Station.
Read more →Dragon & Crew
December 8, 2010
Dragon orbits Earth and splashes down in the Pacific.
Key featureThe first spacecraft built by a private company to be recovered after orbiting Earth. Before this, only governments had done it.
Read more →Rockets
First flight: June 4, 2010
A much bigger rocket that becomes the workhorse of the whole industry.
Key featureNine engines on the first stage, so it can lose one and still reach orbit. Later versions fly back and land so they can be used again.
Read more →Company
In December, NASA awards SpaceX a contract to fly cargo to the International Space Station. It arrives just as the company is close to running out of money.
Read more →Rockets
Reached orbit: September 28, 2008
With money for about one more try, the fourth Falcon 1 makes it.
Key featureThe first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit around Earth.
Read more →Rockets
In March, the first Falcon 1 lifts off from a tiny island in the Pacific and fails about half a minute later. The next two attempts fail too.
Company
In May 2002, Musk starts SpaceX in a warehouse near Los Angeles with money from the sale of PayPal. The goal from day one: make rockets reusable and cut the cost of space enough to eventually reach Mars.
Read more →That’s the base of the rocket: a warehouse in 2002. For what’s announced but not flying yet, see What’s Next. For the whole story across every company, see the main timeline, or read more on the SpaceX page.
From four legs to two planets
Hover over a figureTap a figure · swipe to keep walking →
From four legs to two planets. Hover over or tap any figure. The one on the right can call home.