SpaceX marks 20 years with record market value and five defining milestones

SpaceX, the U.S.-based space company founded by Elon Musk, reached a record market valuation at the opening of trading on Friday, capping what the company described as a historic week more than two decades after its founding. The company's trajectory took shape in 2008, when a SpaceX rocket reached orbit on its fourth attempt. Musk has said the first three launches failed and that the company would not have survived if the fourth, and final, financially backed attempt had not succeeded. SpaceX went on to develop more powerful launch vehicles, including the Falcon 9, which has become the most widely used rocket in the industry. The company also expanded into crewed and cargo missions with its Dragon spacecraft, which in 2012 became the first privately developed vehicle to dock with the International Space Station as a cargo craft. Eight years later, Dragon carried astronauts to the ISS, outpacing rivals such as Boeing and establishing itself as the primary means by which the United States reaches the space station. No further details on the company's plans or the drivers behind the latest valuation jump were immediately available.