# SpaceX > SpaceX is a US private aerospace company that controls over 60% of commercial orbital launches globally and operates Starlink, the world's largest satellite internet constellation. **Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads: · 4 takes · 4 lenses · 1 regions ## What it is SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) is a US private aerospace company founded in March 2002 by Elon Musk in Hawthorne, California, now headquartered at Starbase in South Texas. Its stated mission is to reduce the cost of access to space and ultimately establish a self-sustaining human colony on Mars. As of mid-2026 the company operates two primary commercial divisions: launch services, centred on Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and the in-development Starship super-heavy rocket; and satellite internet, via the Starlink constellation. Following its February 2026 acquisition of xAI, SpaceX absorbed Musk's artificial intelligence business. The company employs approximately 22,000 people. Musk holds roughly 42% of equity and controls approximately 82% of voting power. ## History SpaceX's first orbital success came in September 2008 when Falcon 1 became the first privately funded liquid-fuelled rocket to reach orbit. The Falcon 9 entered service in 2010 and undercut existing US government launch prices substantially. The company's most consequential innovation was propulsive first-stage recovery: in December 2015, a Falcon 9 first stage landed vertically at Cape Canaveral, the first orbital-class booster ever recovered. In March 2017, SpaceX reflew a recovered booster on the SES-10 mission, proving rapid reuse and collapsing the economics of launch. By 2024, Falcon 9 was flying more than 90 times a year, giving SpaceX an estimated 60-plus percent share of commercial orbital launches globally. The crewed milestone came in May 2020 with Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first private crewed orbital mission, under NASA's Commercial Crew Programme. Starlink began constellation deployment in May 2019. ## Current state SpaceX reported approximately US$18.7 billion in 2025 revenue, with Starlink contributing US$11.4 billion, up nearly 50% year-on-year. The Starlink constellation held more than 6,000 satellites in orbit by early 2026 and served more than 10 million active customers across 160 countries and territories. On 12 June 2026, SpaceX completed its initial public offering on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, pricing shares at US$135 and raising approximately US$75 billion, the largest IPO on record, at an initial valuation of US$1.77 trillion; the market capitalisation reached roughly US$2.1 trillion on the first trading day. Four days after the IPO, SpaceX announced a US$60 billion all-stock acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding assistant Cursor. Starship V3 flew on 22 May 2026 in [Flight 12](/en/n/starship-flight-12-booster-failure-2026), the first launch from Pad 2 and the debut of Raptor 3 engines. The upper stage completed its mission and splashed down in the Indian Ocean; the Super Heavy booster failed during the landing burn and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The US FAA declared a mishap on 27 May and grounded the programme pending a SpaceX-led investigation. Separately, [Starlink Mobile](/en/n/starlink-mobile-25m-2026), the direct-to-cell service with 650-plus dedicated satellites, is targeting 25 million active users by end-2026, up from 16 million unique users reached as of March 2026. ## Relationships SpaceX holds NASA Commercial Crew and Commercial Cargo contracts, making it the primary US-government-certified vehicle for crewed and cargo missions to the International Space Station. Starship is the designated lunar lander for NASA's [Artemis](/en/n/artemis-3-post-flyby-2026) programme, requiring a human-rated variant to qualify. The US Department of Defense is a major customer through Starshield, the classified military derivative of Starlink. SpaceX has been identified as a potential supplier for the space-based intercept layer of the US [Golden Dome](/en/n/golden-dome-space-layer-2026) missile-defence architecture. The [xAI](/en/n/xai-series-e-20bn-2026) acquisition folded Musk's Grok AI models and supporting data-centre infrastructure into the company. Competitors include United Launch Alliance (a Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture), Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab in launch, and Amazon's Project Kuiper in satellite internet. ## What to watch - Whether the FAA mishap investigation closes quickly enough for a Starship V3 return to flight; the timeline gates Starlink Gen-2 mass deployment, which requires Starship's payload capacity, and sets the Artemis lunar landing schedule. - Regulatory review of the US$60 billion Anysphere acquisition, given SpaceX's status as a major US federal contractor and Cursor's penetration of Fortune 500 software development. - How SPCX trades as a newly public stock carrying the combined weight of Starship development costs, the Cursor deal, and xAI integration, against strong Starlink cash generation. - Competition from Chinese state-backed low-Earth-orbit constellations and Amazon Kuiper as Starlink Mobile pushes toward the 25-million-user target. ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### official company record - **SpaceX** (north-america, en) — SpaceX's official about page, documenting the company's stated mission to reduce launch costs and make humanity multiplanetary, headquartered at Starbase, Texas. Source: https://www.spacex.com/about ### official investor relations / IPO record - **SpaceX Investor Relations** (north-america, en) — SpaceX's official investor relations portal, launched after the June 2026 Nasdaq IPO under ticker SPCX, covering SEC filings, quarterly and annual reports, and stock data. Source: https://ir.spacex.com ### US financial press / IPO - **CNBC** (north-america, en) — Reports SpaceX's Nasdaq debut on 12 June 2026: shares opened at US$150, market capitalisation reached US$2.1 trillion on the first trading day, making it the sixth most valuable US-listed firm. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/12/spacex-stock-jumps-2-trillion.html ### private-company financial analysis - **Sacra** (north-america, en) — Sacra's revenue and valuation breakdown: trailing twelve-month revenue of US$19.3 billion as of March 2026, with Starlink generating US$11.4 billion in 2025, up 49.8% year-on-year. Source: https://sacra.com/c/spacex/ ## Across the graph - Related: [[starship-flight-12-booster-failure-2026]], [[starlink-mobile-25m-2026]], [[golden-dome-space-layer-2026]], [[artemis-3-post-flyby-2026]], [[xai-series-e-20bn-2026]] - Entities: Spacex, Starlink, Starship, Elon Musk, Faa --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/en/n/spacex-dossier