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SpaceX and Virgin Galactic: countdown to the era of commercial space flight
SpaceX is a company founded by Elon Musk of PayPal and Tesla, which recently became the first privately-owned group to launch a mission to the International Space Station. Its Dragon capsule successfully docked with the ISS after detaching from a Falcon rocket, clearing SpaceX to proceed with a $1.6 billion contract covering at least six further missions to the station. Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group, is pursuing the stars as well, in addition to Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace.
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January 5, 2015
SpaceX's landing barge is now at sea — and ready to be hit by a rocket
Tomorrow's audacious launch may lead to reuseable rockets
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November 7, 2014
Elon Musk may be getting into the satellite business
Musk is exploring a partnership with Greg Wyler, founder of WorldVu Satellites Ltd, to launch about 700 satellites, The Wall Street Journal says.
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October 31, 2014
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashes during test flight
One pilot is dead and another injured after SpaceShipTwo crashes in the Mojave desert.
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August 22, 2014
SpaceX Falcon 9 test vehicle explodes during 'particularly complex' Texas test flight
Onboard systems detected an "anomaly" and aborted
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August 19, 2014
Elon Musk's SpaceX reportedly raising $200 million in funding at $10 billion valuation
The rocket business is booming
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December 6, 2013
How many satellite launches does it take to get to Mars?
SpaceX's launch this week leaves a long road to getting humans to other planets
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September 29, 2013
Commercial space race heats up as Orbital Sciences sends its own ship to ISS
NASA hails 'historical milestone' as Cygnus spacecraft links up with International Space Station