Timeline

SpaceX founded in 2002 with initially with Jim Cantrell(now left) Hans Koenigsmann, Tom Mueller, Gwynne Shotwell.

Milestones

March 2006 First flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket.

2008 

September Falcon 1, SpaceX’s prototype rocket, is the first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to 

orbit Earth.

 2009

July Falcon 1 becomes first privately developed rocket to deliver a commercial satellite into orbit.

2010

4th June 1st Falcon 9 Launch, successfully achieves Earth orbit.

8th December 1st Dragon flight, first commercial company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and recover it successfully.

2012 

21th September:  Grasshopper -  first test flight with a landing, reaching 5.4 m of the ground. at McGregor

October: 1st Falcon 9 ISS resupply with Dragon

2013

September: First flight of SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 V1.1 rocket, with successful re-entry of the first stage booster

3 December: First flight of Falcon 9 to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Payload was SES-8.

2014

17th April:  1st test flight of the enlarged Grasshopper  F9R Dev at McGregor

April: SpaceX successfully lands Falcon 9 first stage in Atlantic Ocean 

Aug - Geostationary Satellite launch

11th February: SpaceX 1st Deep Space Launch  DSCOVR Satellite to Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point.

Nov : F9R Dev2 test article at McGregor, Texas

2015

21st December First successful landing of a F9 1st stage onto dry land LZ1 at Cape Canaveral

2016

8th April 1st recovery of F9 1st stage on a "Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship" ASDS

2017

14th Jan 1st Pacific recovery of F9 1st stage on "Just Read the Instructions" ASDS

19th Feb 1 st Launch from NASA Kennedy Space Center historic Pad 39A (where Apollo 11 moon shot launched in 1969)

March 1st reuse of a Falcon 9 First stage on mission SES-10 + 1st Fairing fly back (into ocean, will use a "bouncy Castle" to land on)

June 3rd, 1st Dragon capsule reflight (CRS-11)

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022


2023

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Target Timeline (speculative)


2023

For Details of 2022 SpaceX Launch manifest click here

2024

2025

2026

2029

Human landing on Mars


Mars

2020 Mars robotic mission and 2018 Red Dragon robotic mission to Mars (was 2020 then 2018 now back to 2020) Cancelled

2021 Manned Flyby? (Dennis Tito: Inspiration Mars) Cancelled

2022 Mars Sample Return (NASA using SpaceX "Red Dragon") Cancelled

2023 Starship(BFR) Moon Fly around mission with passengers including artists (#dearMoon Project)

2023 Starship(BFR) Moon Base test

2024 Starship(BFR) Mars unmanned transporter launch (x2)

2025 Mars Base 1 (Fuel factory) and Base 2 (now 2022 was 2025) both unmanned.

2026 Manned Mars flight (ITS) Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT or Starship/BFR) now ITS (More likely 2029)

2029 Mars Base Alpha

2031-35 Moon Base Alpha

2030s Permanent Mars Base

2040s Mars City?

2130s Terraform Mars?

Launch Sites

2006-9 Omelek Island (wiki)

2010 KSC Pad SLC-40 (refurbishment Sept 2016-late 2017)

2013-17 KSC Pad 39A refurbishment for F9, "Falcon Heavy" and future Rockets.

2013 Vandenburg AFB Cal SpaceX Launch Complex 4E

2014 Boca Chica Beach, Texas development start

2019  Boca Chica Beach Phase1 operational (delayed from 2016)

2019  Boca Chica Beach development for StarHopper tests

2020  Boca Chica Beach Phase2 development for Starship tests

2021 Starship(BFR) orbital test at Boca.

2022-2028 Mars Launches at Boca 

Rocket Development

Falcon 1 and Merlin 1A and 1C engine (24 March 2006 - 14 July 2009 Five Launches 2 successful)

Falcon 9 version 1.0 and Merlin 1C engine (2010 - 2013 all 5 Launches successful)

Falcon 9 version 1.1 and Merlin 1D engine (2013....)

Falcon 9 version 2 and Merlin 1D engine with extended 2nd stage (2015....)

Falcon 9 Block 5 upgraded F9 (2018....)

Falcon 9 Heavy and Merlin 1D engine (2018....)

MCT and Raptor engine (2019....)