SpaceX and Mars

Chapter 1 · 2002 – 2006 A small rocket company

SpaceX was born of a calculation: if rockets cost far less, Mars would become reachable. Its first years were those of a handful of engineers and a launcher that did not fly.

The first employees

Space Exploration Technologies, SpaceX, was founded in early 2002 by Elon Musk, who has been its chief executive, chief technology officer and president since May 2002. The company settled in Los Angeles, home to the great historic aerospace firms. The first core group brought together Chris Thompson, Tom Mueller, an engine specialist, and Hans Koenigsmann, an engineer Elon Musk had met at a rocket launch in the Mojave Desert. Tim Buzza, a test specialist, arrived in August 2002: he was the fifth employee. Gwynne Shotwell joined SpaceX the same year to sell launches. The engines were tested in Texas, at McGregor.

A “compact” rocket

In 2003, Elon Musk described his first launcher to the Wharton School’s magazine. The Falcon was to put half a ton into low orbit. The Pegasus rocket, NASA’s best choice for that kind of payload, then cost $25 million; SpaceX wanted to do the same job for $7 million. “If our launcher were a car, it would be a compact,” he summed up. The Falcon, he added, was a first step toward Mars: cost remained the main obstacle for anyone who wanted to go there.

Falcon 1 was designed from off-the-shelf hardware: an Ethernet network linked its computers. SpaceX first wanted to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but the base made the young company wait behind other launches, then denied it access. It fell back on Kwajalein Atoll, a U.S. Army base in the Marshall Islands, in the middle of the Pacific, near the equator. The team lived on Kwajalein and worked on Omelek Island, which it reached by boat.

The first failure

The first Falcon 1 lifted off in early 2006 and did not get far. Hans Koenigsmann would call the failure “heartbreaking”: “We learned a lot of things we did wrong, and learning sometimes hurts.”

Sources: NASA, Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office oral history interviews, January 15, 2013: G. Shotwell (founding in early 2002), H. Koenigsmann (Mojave, Kwajalein and Omelek), T. Buzza (first employees, August 2002, fifth employee, Los Angeles, McGregor, Vandenberg), D. Giger (Vandenberg, the equator, first launch in early 2006); Tesla, Form 10-K/A, 2026 (Elon Musk’s roles at SpaceX since May 2002); NASA, “Gwynne Shotwell” page (joined in 2002); R. Strauss, “Planning the Next (Giant) Step,” Wharton Magazine, winter 2003 (half a ton, Pegasus at $25 million, $7 million, “if our launcher were a car, it would be a compact,” first step toward Mars); NASA, SP-2014-617, Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, 2014 (Ethernet, “heartbreaking,” “learning sometimes hurts”).

Chapter 2 · 2006 – 2012 The contract that changed everything

In six years, SpaceX went from a company whose rockets failed to the first private company to resupply the International Space Station. A NASA program, COTS, made the leap possible.

The COTS bet

In January 2006, NASA issued a call for proposals for its COTS program: it wanted private companies to develop vehicles able to carry cargo to the International Space Station, and would pay them only as they reached milestones set in advance. SpaceX almost entirely stopped work to write its proposal. On results day, all employees gathered in the lunchroom; when the win was announced, the room erupted. The agreement, signed in August 2006, was worth $278 million. From the start, SpaceX and NASA wanted the Dragon capsule to be able one day to carry humans.

The fourth try

Falcon 1 failed three times. Engineer David Giger would say he never sensed any temptation among the leaders to give up. The lesson fits in one phrase: “test as you fly.” Any difference between the way a vehicle is tested on the ground and the way it is flown is where problems will arise. On September 28, 2008, from Kwajalein, the fourth Falcon 1 reached orbit: the first liquid-fueled rocket developed by a private company to do so. On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded SpaceX a Station resupply contract: twelve missions for $1.6 billion. Gwynne Shotwell became the company’s president.

Falcon 9 and Dragon

On June 4, 2010, the first Falcon 9, powered by nine Merlin engines, lifted off successfully. On December 8, 2010, the second put the first Dragon capsule into orbit; it returned to Earth and was recovered at sea: according to NASA, SpaceX became the first U.S. commercial company to recover a spacecraft returning from orbit.

On May 22, 2012, a Falcon 9 launched Dragon toward the Station. On May 25, the approach became complicated: a reflection off the Japanese module fooled the thermal cameras, which no longer agreed with the lidars. An engineer ordered a retreat; the team fixed the software in flight, and the sensors converged. Dragon was berthed to the Station: for the first time, a private company delivered cargo there. In Hawthorne, about 1,500 people shouted, cried and hugged in front of the control room.

The real price

The COTS agreement cost far more than planned. SpaceX expected to invest about $105 million on top of NASA’s $278 million; in all, the company spent about $850 million, and NASA $396 million. Without that program, Gwynne Shotwell summed up, SpaceX might still be limping along trying to change the world, instead of running.

Sources: NASA, Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office oral history interviews, January 15, 2013: G. Shotwell (call of January 2006, company almost halted, lunchroom, $278 million, August 2006, presidency after the resupply contract, reflection off the Japanese module, retreat, 1,500 people, $105, $850 and $396 million, “limping instead of running”), D. Giger (Dragon designed for humans, no despair, “test as you fly”); NASA, SP-2014-617, 2014 (Falcon 1 in orbit on September 28, 2008 after three failures, contract of December 23, 2008, $1.6 billion for twelve missions, Falcon 9 on June 4, 2010 and its nine engines, Dragon on December 8, 2010, launch on May 22 and berthing on May 25, 2012); R. Preer, Wharton Magazine, fall 2010 (first private liquid-fueled rocket in orbit).

Chapter 3 · 2015 – 2020 Bringing rockets back

To bring down the price of space, SpaceX wanted to recover its rockets rather than throw them away. Between 2015 and 2020, the idea became routine, and astronauts climbed aboard.

December 21, 2015

That evening, a Falcon 9 put eleven Orbcomm messaging satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral. Less than ten minutes after liftoff, around 8:38 p.m. Eastern time, its first stage came back and landed upright on a pad SpaceX calls Landing Zone 1, about six miles south of its starting point. Since then, Falcon 9 first-stage landings have become routine; NASA regularly reports them in its resupply mission updates.

Falcon Heavy and the roadster

On February 6, 2018, from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy for the first time: three reusable Falcon 9 first stages strapped together, for 27 Merlin engines. It was then the most powerful operational rocket; it can send 37,000 pounds to Mars. The two side boosters came back and landed side by side at Cape Canaveral. The center core missed its landing: two of its engines failed to reignite.

For this demonstration flight, the only payload was a Tesla Roadster electric car attached to the second stage, with a suited mannequin dubbed “Starman” at the wheel. The stage placed it in an orbit around the Sun reaching beyond that of Mars, with no encounter with the planet planned or even possible. In October 2020, the car passed within five million miles of Mars, too far for the planet to alter its orbit.

May 30, 2020

At 3:22 p.m. Eastern time, a Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Pad 39A, the pad of the Apollo missions and the Shuttle. At the top, the Crew Dragon capsule carried NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley toward the International Space Station. For the first time, NASA astronauts left American soil aboard a spacecraft built and operated by a private company. Elon Musk spoke of a “dream come true” for the whole company, the work of roughly a hundred thousand people counting all suppliers.

Sources: S. Clark, “Photos: Falcon 9 booster stands upright after landing,” Spaceflight Now, December 22, 2015 (eleven Orbcomm satellites, landing around 8:38 p.m. EST at Landing Zone 1, about six miles south of the starting point); NASA, “Commercial Resupply” blog, for example “Falcon 9 First Stage Lands!”, June 3, 2021; J. Uri, “5 Years Ago: First Flight of the Falcon Heavy Rocket,” NASA, February 6, 2023 (February 6, 2018, Pad 39A, three first stages, 27 engines, most powerful operational rocket, 37,000 pounds to Mars, side booster landings, center core failure, Tesla Roadster, Starman, orbit beyond Mars’s, five million miles in October 2020); NASA, “NASA Astronauts Launch from America in Historic Test Flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon,” May 30, 2020 (3:22 p.m., Behnken and Hurley, the first, “dream come true,” “a hundred thousand people roughly”); SpaceX, “Launches” page (Pad 39A of Apollo and the Shuttle).

Chapter 4 · 2021 – 2026 Starship

The ship designed for Mars was first chosen for the Moon. From South Texas, it flies farther and farther.

The largest launcher ever built

Starship combines a first stage, Super Heavy, and a ship, Starship, both designed to be fully reusable. SpaceX presents it as the most powerful launcher ever developed, able to carry more than a hundred tons to orbit. It was designed from the outset to run on liquid methane and oxygen, resources that can be extracted and refined on Mars. It is built, tested and launched at Starbase, Texas.

A lunar lander

On April 16, 2021, NASA selected SpaceX to develop the lander that will once again set American astronauts on the Moon, as part of the Artemis program: a $2.89 billion fixed-price contract, paid by milestones. The lander is a version of Starship, with a large cabin and two airlocks. In 2026, NASA reorganized its schedule: the Artemis III mission, planned for 2027, will stay in Earth orbit and test rendezvous and docking between Orion and test articles of the SpaceX and Blue Origin landers; the next landing of Americans on the Moon moves to Artemis IV.

The test flights

On March 14, 2024, on the third integrated flight test, Super Heavy lifted off with its 33 Raptor engines; the ship separated by lighting its six engines, reached its planned orbit and successfully demonstrated a propellant transfer between its internal tanks, a step toward the in-orbit refueling on which distant missions depend. On July 24, 2026, on the thirteenth flight, a new version of the vehicle deployed twenty Starlink satellites, relit an engine in space, then the ship reentered the atmosphere and splashed down gently in the Indian Ocean, intact. The fourteenth flight took place on September 28, 2026.

Sources: SpaceX, “Mission: Mars” page, accessed October 10, 2026 (fully reusable system, most powerful ever developed, more than a hundred tons, methane and oxygen); SpaceX, “Launches” page, accessed October 10, 2026 (Starbase, flight 14 on September 28, 2026); NASA, “As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to Land Next Americans on Moon,” April 16, 2021 ($2.89 billion, fixed price and milestones, cabin and two airlocks); NASA, “NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans,” May 13, 2026 (Artemis III in Earth orbit next year, tests with SpaceX and Blue Origin articles, landing on Artemis IV); NASA, “NASA Artemis Mission Progresses with SpaceX Starship Test Flight,” March 14, 2024 (third flight, 33 engines, six engines, planned orbit, propellant transfer); SpaceX, “Starship’s Thirteenth Flight Test,” July 24, 2026 (twenty Starlink satellites, relight, intact splashdown in the Indian Ocean).

Chapter 5 · 2026 What SpaceX announces for Mars

SpaceX has not yet sent anything to Mars. But the company publicly describes what it wants to do there, and on what scale.

A city, not a base

On its website, in 2026, SpaceX describes the goal: a self-sustaining city on Mars, which will require more than a million people and millions of tons of cargo. Launch windows to Mars open only about every twenty-six months; it will take more than ten launches a day during those windows and, ultimately, several thousand Starships. The ship will enter the Martian atmosphere at 7.5 kilometers per second.

Cargo first

The company offers cargo flights to the surface of Mars “no earlier than 2028,” at $100 million per ton. The first humans will then have to locate resources, prepare landing areas, set up power generation and build habitats.

Announcements, not results

These figures are goals announced by the company, not achievements. As of this book’s verification date, the sources consulted report no Starship flight beyond Earth orbit; in-orbit refueling, essential for a journey to Mars, appears in them only as a demonstration of transfer between the tanks of a single ship.

Sources: SpaceX, “Mission: Mars” page, accessed October 10, 2026 (a million people, millions of tons, more than ten launches a day, twenty-six months, several thousand Starships, 7.5 km/s, “no earlier than 2028,” $100 million per ton, tasks of the first humans); for the last paragraph, the sources of the previous chapter, which mention no flight beyond Earth orbit and no propellant transfer between two ships.