9 out-of-this-world facts about SpaceX

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX as a company has become synonymous with the future of space travel, both on the Space Coast and across the globe.

But how much do you know about the company and how it got its start?

Channel 9 compiled nine things to know about SpaceX as the countdown continues toward a historic launch later this month:

1. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk.

2. According to the SpaceX website, the company’s goal is to revolutionize space technology, with the goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

3. SpaceX has contracted more than 100 launches.

READ: Ready, Set, Launch! Astronauts will launch from Kennedy Space Center in May aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket

4. The company has more than 6,000 employees.

5. According to SpaceX’s website, is the only private company capable of returning a spacecraft from low Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in 2010.

6. The company made history in 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station, according to the SpaceX website.

WATCH: Rocket carrying secret Space Force space plane launches from Cape Canaveral

7. SpaceX and NASA are targeting May 27 for Falcon 9’s launch of Crew Dragon’s second demonstration mission (Demo-2) from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which will return human spaceflight to the United States since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011.

8. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the first two NASA astronauts to fly onboard the Dragon spacecraft as part of the Demo-2 mission to and from the International Space Station.

9. SpaceX maintains launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and Boca Chica, Texas.

VIDEO: SpaceX successfully launches 60 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral The launch happened at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, 2020.

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