Starship SpaceX Wiki


SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) is a company that builds and operates reusable rockets like the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and the Starship. It is also the builder and owner of the R&D facility and launch site Starbase. Its headquarters currently are located in Hawthorne, California, where they exhibit the first landed Falcon 9 Booster. They plan to move their headquarters to Starbase, Texas. SpaceX also launches from Kennedy Space Centre (LC-39A, including OLIT-2), Cape Cañaveral (SCL-40) and Vandenberg Air Force Base (SCL-4E). All facilities launch Falcon 9 (Except for Starbase, which launches Starship prototypes), while Vandenberg Air Force Base and Kenedy Space Center launch the Falcon Heavy.

History[]

SpaceX was founded in March 14, 2002 by Elon Musk, making it the first private space company, and then, they bought an installation in the Omelek island. Then they built their first rocket, the Falcon 1. The Falcon 1 launched 3 times (all failing) before becoming the first privately developed orbital launch vehicle. after the first success, the Falcon 1 launched another time, carrying the RazakSAT, before being retired, and replaced by the Falcon 9.

Then SpaceX wanted a bigger rocket, one that could carry more payload, and was able to send something to the ISS, so they designed the Falcon 9 1.0, a non-reusable launch vehicle that could carry a Dragon 1 capsule, so they got a contact with NASA, and built the first Falcon 9. The Falcon 9 test flight was a success, but the Dragon capsule had a faulty parachute and crashed into the water. After that, SpaceX launched more Falcon 9 1.0 before reaching the crazy conclusion they needed to re-use the booster. So they built prototypes like the Grasshopper, and after some tests, they built the Falcon 9 1.1, a longer falcon 9, and with landing hardware, and they did some flights, all successful, but none archived even the landing of the booster, all crashing into the water or into the droneship, however, they could do some splashdowns. then, SpaceX developed the Falcon 9 1.2, also known as the "full thrust", which had improved merlin engines, and several software and hardware updates.

The Falcon 9 1.2 successfully landed in the ground pad, and shortly after that, they landed in a Droneship after only a few crashes. after some launches, they slowly improved their reliability of their landings. The Falcon 9 1.2 was replaced after SpaceX discovered some cracks in the engines caused by the reusability of the rockets, by the Block 4.

SpaceX did several flights in the Block 4, and they decided to strap 2 Falcon 9 boosters into a Falcon 9, making the Falcon Heavy. The Falcon heavy was first flown in 2018, landing 2 of its 3 boosters successfully, and delivering a tesla to Heliocentric orbit. Not much later, the Block 5 of both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy was created, along an updated Dragon capsule.

In 2019, SpaceX began the testing of prototypes of the Starship in Starbase, first creating test tanks, and flying fuel tanks, and then moving into more complete prototypes while they modified Starbase to their current needs. In 2023, the starship began its spaceflight testing, begining with their first flight test.

In December 2024, SpaceX has submitted a request to make Starbase an official city.[1][2] Also, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX will change their headquarters from Hawthorne to Starbase.[3]

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