SpaceX unglaubliche Erfolgsgeschichte! Von Falcon 1 zum Starship
Video from the channel TDK about SpaceX, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 14:18. Language: German. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Biographical documentary covering SpaceX's history from its founding to the Starship plans, using the company's near-bankruptcy in its early years as the throughline.
Historical context
The video traces the origin to Elon Musk's interest in space, his time with the Mars Society in the late 1990s and the Mars Oasis project, a small greenhouse he wanted to land on Mars. In 2002, unable to find affordable rockets, he founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. He put in about $100 million of his own money, with another $20 million coming from investors such as Luke Nosek and Steve Jurvetson. The Falcon 1 failed three times: in 2006 due to a fuel line leak, in 2007 due to a second-stage ignition problem, and in August 2008 due to a stage collision, when the company had less than $20 million left. On September 28, 2008, on the fourth attempt, it reached orbit.
Key facts
Months later came a $1.6 billion NASA contract for at least 12 cargo missions to the ISS under Commercial Resupply Services, which funded development of the Falcon 9 and the Dragon capsule. Dragon flew and returned to Earth in 2010 and reached the ISS in 2012. Then came the first Falcon 9 first-stage landing and the Falcon Heavy in 2018, which carried a Tesla Roadster as payload. These were followed by the Starlink satellite network and the fully reusable Starship system, which the video presents as the foundation of Musk's plans for Mars.