Elon Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX
In 2008, SpaceX had the third launch attempt of its Falcon 1 rocket. The rocket failed after it reached orbit and in doing so used up all the $100 million that Elon Musk had personally invested in the company which covered three launch attempts.
Musk recalled these failures as emotional break-or-make moments. “Falcon 1 is where it all started…it started out with just a few people who really did not know how to make rockets,” Musk said. But the company had a vision. The Falcon 1 was to be a revolutionary rocket because it would be able to provide the world’s lowest-cost access to orbit and space (via Space). This vision for low-cost and increased access to space would define SpaceX throughout all its years of operations, even as it pushed deeper into space.
After the failure of the third attempt at Falcon 1, it seemed like that might well be the end of the line for SpaceX. “But then Elon walked out of the mission control trailer, straight past the press, and addressed the 350+ SpaceX employees in attendance,” Chad Anderson, a VC, and CEO of specialized space fund Space Angels said. “He reminded them that what they were doing was extremely hard and that by getting to orbit, they had done something that a half dozen or so countries had failed to do.”
Musk had brought in VC funding as a contingency to provide for two more launches and urged his staff “to pick themselves up and dust themselves off,” ahead of Falcon 1’s fourth attempt launch which was a success just seven weeks later. “For my part, I will never give up, and I mean never,” Musk said, according to Space.com.
But, just how dangerous were the first failures? The first Falcon 1 failed launches put the company in a near-bankruptcy stage. During his speech at the 2017 event, Musk explained that the fourth launch was critical for the company. After three failed attempts, SpaceX was running out of cash, and it had one shot left of success. If the fourth launch had failed, SpaceX would probably not exist today.
SpaceX is now focused on several operations, including the expansion of Starlink, a satellite-based internet service that aims to end the digital divide on Earth, as well as the launch of government and commercial satellites and its various crew and cargo missions to the ISS. But the focus of the company has always been to make humans a multi-planetary species by one day shuttling humans to Mars for a long-term presence on the red planet.
NASA adds that the Starship will also play a critical role in the Artemis lunar effort. SpaceX will adapt a Starship to travel to the moon and land astronauts on the lunar surface. The mission, slated for 2025, will mark the historical return of humanity to the moon 50 years after Apollo’s final mission.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/p9FzWPObsWA
- https://www.slashgear.com/841938/the-one-failure-that-changed-spacex-forever/
- https://www.businessinsider.in/this-early-spacex-investor-watched-elon-musk-bounce-back-from-failure-and-the-vc-says-he-watches-out-for-the-same-qualities-when-hunting-for-startup-founders/articleshow/70360086.cms
- https://www.fearlessmotivation.com/2017/06/29/elon-musk-quotes/
- https://readloud.net/
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