On May 6th, 2002 Elon Musk created SpaceX because he wanted to reduce space transportation costs and take humanity to Mars. By 2008, SpaceX had sent their Falcon 1 rocket into orbit and became the first private company to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft with their Dragon spacecraft in 2010.
Since then, SpaceX has created a Falcon 9 rocket which has a total of 9 engines, 8 more than their previous Falcon 1 rocket. In 2018 SpaceX launched a demo flight of their Falcon Heavy rocket which straps together 3 of their Falcon 9 rockets into 1 rocket with a far greater load capacity than the Falcon 9.
A usual payload for a demo flight is a couple of tons of metal, but SpaceX did something different. The first demo flight of the Falcon Heavy made the headlines as it launched an original Tesla Roadster into orbit around the Sun.
Since the first launch of the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX has been developing a brand new rocket made of steel called Starship. This is the rocket that Elon Musk has said will be capable of taking humanity to Mars and beyond.
To test the basics of the new engines for their Starship, SpaceX has created Starhopper, which is like the Starship, but not. The Starhopper is a smaller sized Starship with the same diameter, half the height, and with fewer engines initially, but will increase to three engines as time goes on.
Starhopper is currently undergoing engine testing at their Boca Chica, Texas launch site and soon will be doing 100 meter hop tests and eventually up to lower atmosphere.
When completed, Starship will be capable of taking humanity to Mars. The plan created by Elon Musk and SpaceX has outlined the basics of the Mars trip, which involve sending two Starships for cargo, along with one more for humans to travel in.
SpaceX is planning missions to Mars which are planned to start in the mid-2020s, initially with trained astronauts, and then commercial passengers for as little as $100,000 per passenger.
When Edward Holmok, an engineering teacher at Lakewood High School, was asked about Elon Musk and SpaceX he said, “They’re doing innovating things. Elon is just lucky.”
