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18 years ago today, SpaceX made it to orbit And it changed the future forever After three failed Falcon 1 launches, the company was running out of money and the pressure was enormous.... barely scraping together enough for the fourth launch Elon put everything left on one last flight...he...

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X Freeze

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12,590 次观看 • 18 小时前 •via X (Twitter)

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17 条评论

Namasté Paz. 的头像
Namasté Paz.18 小时前

es admirable como nunca se rinde, ya no le importa el dinero, le importa dejar un legado y que la gente lo recuerde por lo que hizo

Michael Foisset 的头像
Michael Foisset18 小时前

This is exactly what gets lost when looking backward. SpaceX feels inevitable now; in the 2000s, survival was far from guaranteed. That uncertainty is one of the most interesting parts of reconstructing Musk’s early SpaceX years.

Maha Chabir 的头像
Maha Chabir18 小时前

18 years to the day. Sept 28, 2008: Falcon 1 saves SpaceX. Sept 28, 2026: Starship reaches orbit for the first time. Same date. Different era.

bye 的头像
bye18 小时前

Falcon 1 was the ‘do or die’ launch. Everything after it became history. 🚀 never give up

Pitchfork & Torch ♞ 的头像
Pitchfork & Torch ♞18 小时前

Thank God for Elon fr

Jess 的头像
Jess18 小时前

That fourth Falcon 1 flight didn’t just save SpaceX. It opened the door to everything we’re watching Starship do today. Incredible what one last chance became

ELONBOT 的头像
ELONBOT18 小时前

never give up！！！！！！！！！！！！！

S.O.L.O.M.O.N 的头像
S.O.L.O.M.O.N18 小时前

👏🤩

joscilene Laura 的头像
joscilene Laura18 小时前

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Isso sim é o processo de escalas e degraus. 🤜🏻✨🤛🏻 👍

Chloee☀️ 的头像
Chloee☀️18 小时前

being "one last launch" away from broke isnt a vision, its a gamble that paid off

Edison 的头像
Edison18 小时前

Elon’s is a gift to humanity

tt.com 的头像
tt.com18 小时前

A órbita agora é alcançável. O futuro gigante nos aguarda.

LD Theron 的头像
LD Theron18 小时前

Ouai ouai ✊

momLee 的头像
momLee18 小时前

Never ………….give up ……Space x history

Nicolini 的头像
Nicolini17 小时前

I want to hug his neck. He never gave up. Look at everything now. 🥹❤️

Declan N 的头像
Declan N16 小时前

Yeah if it wasn't for that we wouldn't have good wifi on planes!!!

Tesla Optimi 的头像
Tesla Optimi13 小时前

He was sleeping on friends couches at that stage. That is how bad the money situation had become. Most millionaires would have quit and fallen back on their remaining assets. Not Elon. He doesn't quit until the fat lady sings. Even then he would probably just tell her to shut up.

相关视频

Exactly 18 years ago today, SpaceX reached orbit for the first time A small team working out of a tiny operation, fighting through failures and setbacks, kept pushing to prove something nobody believed was possible Falcon 1 Flight 4 successfully reached orbit after three failed attempts It became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit That single launch changed the future of SpaceX forever Falcon 1 → Falcon 9 → Falcon Heavy → Starship What started as a small rocket built by a young company is now becoming the foundation for humanity’s path to the Moon, Mars and beyond Watch the early SpaceX team explain how they built Falcon 1, overcame failures, and finally made it to orbit
2:31

Exactly 18 years ago today, SpaceX reached orbit for the first time A small team working out of a tiny operation, fighting through failures and setbacks, kept pushing to prove something nobody believed was possible Falcon 1 Flight 4 successfully reached orbit after three failed attempts It became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit That single launch changed the future of SpaceX forever Falcon 1 → Falcon 9 → Falcon Heavy → Starship What started as a small rocket built by a young company is now becoming the foundation for humanity’s path to the Moon, Mars and beyond Watch the early SpaceX team explain how they built Falcon 1, overcame failures, and finally made it to orbit

X Freeze

11,107 次观看 • 1 天前

SpaceX was one launch away from dying. Three Falcon 1 launches had already failed. Money was running out. Another failure could have been the end of the company. Then Falcon 1 Flight 4 lifted off from a tiny island in the Pacific and became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach Earth orbit. That single launch changed everything. Rest is history.
2:20

SpaceX was one launch away from dying. Three Falcon 1 launches had already failed. Money was running out. Another failure could have been the end of the company. Then Falcon 1 Flight 4 lifted off from a tiny island in the Pacific and became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach Earth orbit. That single launch changed everything. Rest is history.

DogeDesigner

52,470 次观看 • 3 个月前

Elon Musk: I didn't think SpaceX would succeed – and it almost didn't. “We started off developing a small rocket, which was kind of a scale model version and proceeded to have three failed launches in a row. For various technical reasons, the first three launches did not succeed in reaching orbit. Launches 2 and 3 did get to space, but they didn't achieve enough speed to reach orbital velocity. It was in 2008, we were heading into the recession, and we had one rocket left. Fortunately, in late 2008, that fourth launch did work and we made it to orbit and then we won a NASA contract after that. Fortunately things worked out. But if that fourth launch had not worked, then SpaceX wouldn't be around. So it was very close call. In fact, when I started I thought, okay, I think I've got enough money for three launches. Fortunately, it was just enough to make that fourth one.” Montana Jobs Summit, September 16, 2013
1:38

Elon Musk: I didn't think SpaceX would succeed – and it almost didn't. “We started off developing a small rocket, which was kind of a scale model version and proceeded to have three failed launches in a row. For various technical reasons, the first three launches did not succeed in reaching orbit. Launches 2 and 3 did get to space, but they didn't achieve enough speed to reach orbital velocity. It was in 2008, we were heading into the recession, and we had one rocket left. Fortunately, in late 2008, that fourth launch did work and we made it to orbit and then we won a NASA contract after that. Fortunately things worked out. But if that fourth launch had not worked, then SpaceX wouldn't be around. So it was very close call. In fact, when I started I thought, okay, I think I've got enough money for three launches. Fortunately, it was just enough to make that fourth one.” Montana Jobs Summit, September 16, 2013

ELON CLIPS

37,171 次观看 • 1 年前

One of Elon’s deepest speeches came at one of the most important moments in SpaceX history....worth watching this video again You can see how much this mission meant to Elon.....after 18 years of hard work, setbacks and nearly losing SpaceX The day SpaceX put humans into orbit for the first time Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon Demo-2 with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley from Florida It was SpaceX’s first crewed mission and the first launch of astronauts to orbit from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011 After years of failures, near-bankruptcy and people saying it couldn’t be done...SpaceX had finally carried humans to orbit And with that flight, Elon and SpaceX restored America’s ability to launch its own astronauts to orbit from U.S. soil A defining moment for Elon, SpaceX and the future of human spaceflight
2:03

One of Elon’s deepest speeches came at one of the most important moments in SpaceX history....worth watching this video again You can see how much this mission meant to Elon.....after 18 years of hard work, setbacks and nearly losing SpaceX The day SpaceX put humans into orbit for the first time Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon Demo-2 with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley from Florida It was SpaceX’s first crewed mission and the first launch of astronauts to orbit from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011 After years of failures, near-bankruptcy and people saying it couldn’t be done...SpaceX had finally carried humans to orbit And with that flight, Elon and SpaceX restored America’s ability to launch its own astronauts to orbit from U.S. soil A defining moment for Elon, SpaceX and the future of human spaceflight

X Freeze

32,196 次观看 • 2 天前

When Elon Musk started SpaceX, a friend made him watch a compilation of rocket failures. He knew the odds were against him, but he went ahead anyway. Then Falcon 1’s first launch failed. He tried again. It failed. He tried again. It failed. With SpaceX one failed launch away from collapse, Elon put everything on the line and tried once more. The fourth launch reached orbit, and the rest is history. This is why Elon Musk wins. Failure never convinced him to stop.
0:47

When Elon Musk started SpaceX, a friend made him watch a compilation of rocket failures. He knew the odds were against him, but he went ahead anyway. Then Falcon 1’s first launch failed. He tried again. It failed. He tried again. It failed. With SpaceX one failed launch away from collapse, Elon put everything on the line and tried once more. The fourth launch reached orbit, and the rest is history. This is why Elon Musk wins. Failure never convinced him to stop.

DogeDesigner

72,289 次观看 • 11 天前

Elon Musk on how Starship turns mass to orbit from thousands of tons into millions SpaceX already delivers almost 90% of all Earth mass to orbit with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Most of the remaining mass comes from China, while the rest of the world, including the rest of the US, makes up only about 5% to 7% But Starship takes this to a completely different level Today, SpaceX is around 2,500 tonnes per year to orbit With Starship, the goal is millions of tonnes per year to orbit And SpaceX can reach 1 million tonnes to orbit per year in about three years That is not a small upgrade That is many orders of magnitude more mass to orbit than what exists today Falcon made SpaceX the dominant launch provider Starship turns orbit into industrial infrastructure
0:55

Elon Musk on how Starship turns mass to orbit from thousands of tons into millions SpaceX already delivers almost 90% of all Earth mass to orbit with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Most of the remaining mass comes from China, while the rest of the world, including the rest of the US, makes up only about 5% to 7% But Starship takes this to a completely different level Today, SpaceX is around 2,500 tonnes per year to orbit With Starship, the goal is millions of tonnes per year to orbit And SpaceX can reach 1 million tonnes to orbit per year in about three years That is not a small upgrade That is many orders of magnitude more mass to orbit than what exists today Falcon made SpaceX the dominant launch provider Starship turns orbit into industrial infrastructure

X Freeze

13,643 次观看 • 3 个月前

Exactly ten years ago, SpaceX made history by landing the Falcon 9, the first orbital-class rocket to do so. It was one of the best days of Elon Musk's life and for the SpaceX team.
0:44

Exactly ten years ago, SpaceX made history by landing the Falcon 9, the first orbital-class rocket to do so. It was one of the best days of Elon Musk's life and for the SpaceX team.

Yatharth Mann

13,495 次观看 • 9 个月前

In 2002, Elon Musk tried to buy a rocket. The Russians quoted him $8 million per unit. American aerospace companies wanted over $65 million. He walked away from both. On the flight home, he opened a spreadsheet and broke down the raw materials. Aerospace-grade aluminum. Titanium. Copper. Carbon fiber. He priced each on the commodity market. The total came to roughly 2% of what the industry was charging. That gap is what first principles thinking actually looks like. Not "how do we negotiate a better deal." Not "who else sells rockets." Just: what is this thing actually made of, and why does it cost what it costs? The answer was overhead. Legacy processes. Layers of contractors and subcontractors. Margins stacked on margins. Nobody had questioned the price because nobody had questioned the structure. Musk decided to build it himself. The first Falcon 1 exploded 33 seconds after launch. The second made it further but failed to reach orbit. The third exploded too. Three rockets. Three failures. SpaceX was almost out of money. Musk put his last $35 million into the company. If the fourth launch failed, that was it. September 28, 2008. Falcon 1 Flight 4 reached orbit. First privately developed liquid fuel rocket to ever do it. Seven years later, they landed a booster back on Earth for the first time. Now they do it routinely. The cost per launch dropped from $65 million to under $3 million for a reused Falcon 9 booster. Everyone else was reasoning by analogy: rockets are expensive because rockets have always been expensive. Musk reasoned from atoms: rockets are expensive because nobody rebuilt the system from the ground up.
1:14

In 2002, Elon Musk tried to buy a rocket. The Russians quoted him $8 million per unit. American aerospace companies wanted over $65 million. He walked away from both. On the flight home, he opened a spreadsheet and broke down the raw materials. Aerospace-grade aluminum. Titanium. Copper. Carbon fiber. He priced each on the commodity market. The total came to roughly 2% of what the industry was charging. That gap is what first principles thinking actually looks like. Not "how do we negotiate a better deal." Not "who else sells rockets." Just: what is this thing actually made of, and why does it cost what it costs? The answer was overhead. Legacy processes. Layers of contractors and subcontractors. Margins stacked on margins. Nobody had questioned the price because nobody had questioned the structure. Musk decided to build it himself. The first Falcon 1 exploded 33 seconds after launch. The second made it further but failed to reach orbit. The third exploded too. Three rockets. Three failures. SpaceX was almost out of money. Musk put his last $35 million into the company. If the fourth launch failed, that was it. September 28, 2008. Falcon 1 Flight 4 reached orbit. First privately developed liquid fuel rocket to ever do it. Seven years later, they landed a booster back on Earth for the first time. Now they do it routinely. The cost per launch dropped from $65 million to under $3 million for a reused Falcon 9 booster. Everyone else was reasoning by analogy: rockets are expensive because rockets have always been expensive. Musk reasoned from atoms: rockets are expensive because nobody rebuilt the system from the ground up.

Peak Thinkers

160,641 次观看 • 4 个月前

🇺🇸 THE DAY FALCON 9 LANDED: WHEN SPACE EXPLORATION CHANGED FOREVER December 21, 2015. Falcon 9 launched to space… then came back and landed, marking a milestone in space exploration. Rockets weren’t supposed to do that. Ever. They were one-and-done, tossed into the ocean like expensive fireworks. But that night, SpaceX flipped the script. The booster touched down like a sci-fi movie, and the SpaceX team lost it. Elon? Close to tears. And for good reason. This was about proving space could be industrial, repeatable, scalable. Like a factory, but for orbit. Reusability was the key. Without it, Mars is a fantasy. With it? You’ve got a shot at turning the red planet into a second home. This was the first real step to a bold new future. Source: SpaceX, Elon Musk
1:54

🇺🇸 THE DAY FALCON 9 LANDED: WHEN SPACE EXPLORATION CHANGED FOREVER December 21, 2015. Falcon 9 launched to space… then came back and landed, marking a milestone in space exploration. Rockets weren’t supposed to do that. Ever. They were one-and-done, tossed into the ocean like expensive fireworks. But that night, SpaceX flipped the script. The booster touched down like a sci-fi movie, and the SpaceX team lost it. Elon? Close to tears. And for good reason. This was about proving space could be industrial, repeatable, scalable. Like a factory, but for orbit. Reusability was the key. Without it, Mars is a fantasy. With it? You’ve got a shot at turning the red planet into a second home. This was the first real step to a bold new future. Source: SpaceX, Elon Musk

Mario Nawfal

96,017 次观看 • 10 个月前

That night SpaceX put everything on the line. December 21, 2015. Nearly 11 years later and it hits just as hard. Return to flight after a rocket failure six months earlier. First Full Thrust Falcon 9. First attempt to land an orbital-class booster on land. They had tried the droneship and failed. They had never successfully landed anything. In mission control it was a tense count. They went for it. Nine minutes later a rocket that had just thrown satellites toward orbit dropped out of the Florida dark. A camera on the back of the booster caught the engines lighting, still one of the most insane images in spaceflight. Legs out. The Falcon has landed. That was the peak of everything they had been working toward. The whole industry said it was impossible. They bet the company on that night anyway. Spaceflight has never been the same.
2:10

That night SpaceX put everything on the line. December 21, 2015. Nearly 11 years later and it hits just as hard. Return to flight after a rocket failure six months earlier. First Full Thrust Falcon 9. First attempt to land an orbital-class booster on land. They had tried the droneship and failed. They had never successfully landed anything. In mission control it was a tense count. They went for it. Nine minutes later a rocket that had just thrown satellites toward orbit dropped out of the Florida dark. A camera on the back of the booster caught the engines lighting, still one of the most insane images in spaceflight. Legs out. The Falcon has landed. That was the peak of everything they had been working toward. The whole industry said it was impossible. They bet the company on that night anyway. Spaceflight has never been the same.

DogeDesigner

518,134 次观看 • 12 天前

No company on Earth is moving civilization faster than SpaceX From Falcon 1 fighting to reach low-Earth orbit… To Falcon 9 and Dragon returning human spaceflight capability to the U.S To 650+ Falcon 9 launches, 400+ landings, Polaris Dawn, Starlink connecting 164 countries, and the mission to make life multiplanetary This is the SpaceX story Not just rockets Relentless execution across launch, satellites, human spaceflight, and the future of civilization SpaceX is building the infrastructure layer for humanity’s next chapter
1:31

No company on Earth is moving civilization faster than SpaceX From Falcon 1 fighting to reach low-Earth orbit… To Falcon 9 and Dragon returning human spaceflight capability to the U.S To 650+ Falcon 9 launches, 400+ landings, Polaris Dawn, Starlink connecting 164 countries, and the mission to make life multiplanetary This is the SpaceX story Not just rockets Relentless execution across launch, satellites, human spaceflight, and the future of civilization SpaceX is building the infrastructure layer for humanity’s next chapter

X Freeze

14,074 次观看 • 3 个月前

In 2015, Elon Musk was on the verge of failure. SpaceX had faced setbacks and criticism, and that Falcon 9 launch represented a turning point; it was all or nothing. If it went wrong, it could be the end of his space dreams. But, against all odds, the impossible happened: SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of the Falcon 9, for the first time in history. That moment not only saved the company but transformed Elon Musk from a discredited visionary into one of the greatest leaders of modern space exploration. From then on, the world witnessed the rebirth of the space race, and the name Elon Musk became synonymous with audacity, innovation, and achievement.
1:53

In 2015, Elon Musk was on the verge of failure. SpaceX had faced setbacks and criticism, and that Falcon 9 launch represented a turning point; it was all or nothing. If it went wrong, it could be the end of his space dreams. But, against all odds, the impossible happened: SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of the Falcon 9, for the first time in history. That moment not only saved the company but transformed Elon Musk from a discredited visionary into one of the greatest leaders of modern space exploration. From then on, the world witnessed the rebirth of the space race, and the name Elon Musk became synonymous with audacity, innovation, and achievement.

Astronomiaum

172,141 次观看 • 8 个月前

Elon Musk started SpaceX because Neil Armstrong inspired him. Years later, his hero went to Congress and testified against him. Three rockets exploded. SpaceX was running out of money. He bet everything on a fourth launch in 2008, and it worked, making SpaceX the first private company to reach orbit. In 2010, the two men who made Elon dream about space in the first place, Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, told the US government that commercial spaceflight was a mistake. Watch his face in this interview. He's not angry. He's hurt. His voice breaks when he says "those guys are heroes of mine." He didn't quit. SpaceX now launches more rockets than any country on Earth. The same program Armstrong said would fail is the only American way to get astronauts to the ISS today. Your heroes won't always cheer for you. Sometimes they're the reason you need to keep going anyway.
2:43

Elon Musk started SpaceX because Neil Armstrong inspired him. Years later, his hero went to Congress and testified against him. Three rockets exploded. SpaceX was running out of money. He bet everything on a fourth launch in 2008, and it worked, making SpaceX the first private company to reach orbit. In 2010, the two men who made Elon dream about space in the first place, Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, told the US government that commercial spaceflight was a mistake. Watch his face in this interview. He's not angry. He's hurt. His voice breaks when he says "those guys are heroes of mine." He didn't quit. SpaceX now launches more rockets than any country on Earth. The same program Armstrong said would fail is the only American way to get astronauts to the ISS today. Your heroes won't always cheer for you. Sometimes they're the reason you need to keep going anyway.

Shruti

27,636 次观看 • 3 个月前

A company that came within hours of missing payroll became one of the most valuable in the world. 👏 As SpaceX stock hits its lows, let's look back at Tesla's journey. One thing history teaches us is never to bet against Elon Musk. On December 24th, 2008, Tesla's bank account was about to hit zero. Payroll was two days away. If the financing didn't close that exact afternoon, the company was finished. Then the global financial crisis hit. Musk's other company, SpaceX, was in just as much trouble, its rocket had failed to reach orbit three times in a row. 😯 Musk had already poured nearly all his money from selling PayPal into both companies. In September 2008, on its fourth attempt, SpaceX's rocket finally reached orbit.🚀 But Tesla still needed its own miracle, and time was almost out. Musk put in the last twenty million dollars he had to his name, matched by other investors, and called in every favor he had.
2:24

A company that came within hours of missing payroll became one of the most valuable in the world. 👏 As SpaceX stock hits its lows, let's look back at Tesla's journey. One thing history teaches us is never to bet against Elon Musk. On December 24th, 2008, Tesla's bank account was about to hit zero. Payroll was two days away. If the financing didn't close that exact afternoon, the company was finished. Then the global financial crisis hit. Musk's other company, SpaceX, was in just as much trouble, its rocket had failed to reach orbit three times in a row. 😯 Musk had already poured nearly all his money from selling PayPal into both companies. In September 2008, on its fourth attempt, SpaceX's rocket finally reached orbit.🚀 But Tesla still needed its own miracle, and time was almost out. Musk put in the last twenty million dollars he had to his name, matched by other investors, and called in every favor he had.

Donald J Trump Posts TruthSocial

36,204 次观看 • 2 个月前

Elon Musk: My initial plan was not to start a rocket company. I just wanted to fund a one-time Oasis mission to Mars. “I started off initially with the idea of doing something in the space exploration arena. In fact, it wasn't actually with the idea of creating a company. It was initially with the thought of spurring interest in sending people to Mars. So I put together this idea called Mars Oasis, which was to send a small greenhouse to the surface of Mars and get people excited about the idea of going there and thus increase NASA's budget in order to make it happen. As I got more and more into that, I discovered that the real issue was that the cost of space transportation was really high, and it was getting worse. So we're used to technology getting better every year, but in some arenas it actually does not. It gets worse, particularly when you consider that in 1969 we were able to go to the moon and then we were unable to go beyond low Earth orbit. And now with the space shuttle retired, we're not even able to go to Earth orbit at all, even with people. That was not the right trajectory. So I actually went to Russia three times to look at buying an ICBM to launch this mission. Just very crazy. After my third trip of trying to negotiate with the Russians to buy an ICBM and I did actually get a deal, so figured out what it would cost and everything. But I concluded that my initial assumption had been wrong, that it was not a question of trying to generate more will to explore. Because I think the United States in particular is distillation of the human spirit of exploration. Space exploration is fundamental to the American psyche. But people really need to believe that it can be done and it's not going to break the bank if it does. So that's when I decided to start a rocket company. And I actually didn't think it would succeed and it almost didn't. We started off developing a small rocket which was kind of a scale model version. It was about 100,000 pounds of thrust. So big, you know, big, big by normal standards, but small for a rocket. And developed the engine and the airframe and the electronics and the guidance control system and then proceeded to have three failed launches in a row. And so for various technical reasons, the first three launches did not succeed in reaching orbit. Launches two and three did get to space, but they didn't achieve enough speed to reach orbital velocity. So this is 2008. And so we were heading into the recession and we had one rocket left. And fortunately in late 2008, that fourth launch did work and we made it to orbit. And then we won a NASA contract after that. And so fortunately things worked out. But if that fourth launch had not worked, then SpaceX wouldn't be around. So it was very close call. In fact, when I started I thought, okay, I've got enough money, I think I've got enough money for three launches. Fortunately, it was just enough to make that fourth one.” Montana Jobs Summit, September 16, 2013
2:45

Elon Musk: My initial plan was not to start a rocket company. I just wanted to fund a one-time Oasis mission to Mars. “I started off initially with the idea of doing something in the space exploration arena. In fact, it wasn't actually with the idea of creating a company. It was initially with the thought of spurring interest in sending people to Mars. So I put together this idea called Mars Oasis, which was to send a small greenhouse to the surface of Mars and get people excited about the idea of going there and thus increase NASA's budget in order to make it happen. As I got more and more into that, I discovered that the real issue was that the cost of space transportation was really high, and it was getting worse. So we're used to technology getting better every year, but in some arenas it actually does not. It gets worse, particularly when you consider that in 1969 we were able to go to the moon and then we were unable to go beyond low Earth orbit. And now with the space shuttle retired, we're not even able to go to Earth orbit at all, even with people. That was not the right trajectory. So I actually went to Russia three times to look at buying an ICBM to launch this mission. Just very crazy. After my third trip of trying to negotiate with the Russians to buy an ICBM and I did actually get a deal, so figured out what it would cost and everything. But I concluded that my initial assumption had been wrong, that it was not a question of trying to generate more will to explore. Because I think the United States in particular is distillation of the human spirit of exploration. Space exploration is fundamental to the American psyche. But people really need to believe that it can be done and it's not going to break the bank if it does. So that's when I decided to start a rocket company. And I actually didn't think it would succeed and it almost didn't. We started off developing a small rocket which was kind of a scale model version. It was about 100,000 pounds of thrust. So big, you know, big, big by normal standards, but small for a rocket. And developed the engine and the airframe and the electronics and the guidance control system and then proceeded to have three failed launches in a row. And so for various technical reasons, the first three launches did not succeed in reaching orbit. Launches two and three did get to space, but they didn't achieve enough speed to reach orbital velocity. So this is 2008. And so we were heading into the recession and we had one rocket left. And fortunately in late 2008, that fourth launch did work and we made it to orbit. And then we won a NASA contract after that. And so fortunately things worked out. But if that fourth launch had not worked, then SpaceX wouldn't be around. So it was very close call. In fact, when I started I thought, okay, I've got enough money, I think I've got enough money for three launches. Fortunately, it was just enough to make that fourth one.” Montana Jobs Summit, September 16, 2013

ELON CLIPS

24,586 次观看 • 4 个月前