First Commercial Orbit (Falcon 1)
The birth of commercial spaceflight.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →After three catastrophic failures and nearly bankrupting the company, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 1 into orbit, becoming the first privately funded company to achieve orbital flight with a liquid-fueled rocket.
Key Numbers
- Vehicle
- Falcon 1 (Liquid-Fueled)
- Milestone
- First Private Orbit
Verified Facts
- Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 on September 28, 2008, was the make-or-break moment for SpaceX. If it had failed, the company would have dissolved.
- The success secured a massive $1.6 Billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract, funding the development of the Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule.
- This proved that private enterprise could build and operate orbital launch vehicles, ending the monopoly of nation-states.