Elon Musk recently restated a fact that still defines SpaceX's origin story: if Falcon 1's fourth launch had failed, the company would not exist.

What Happened

SpaceX's first three Falcon 1 launches all ended in failure between 2006 and 2008. Flight 1 on March 24, 2006 failed 33 seconds after liftoff when a corroded aluminum fitting on a fuel line caused kerosene to ignite around the Merlin engine. Flight 2 on March 21, 2007 reached space but not orbit due to propellant slosh that created a circular coning motion in the second stage. Flight 3 on August 2, 2008 was lost when residual thrust from leftover fuel in cooling channels pushed the spent first stage back into the second stage after separation—Musk later said a slightly longer delay before staging would have saved the flight.

Six weeks later, the team assembled Flight 4 from remaining parts and flew it on September 28, 2008 at 23:15 UTC. The payload was Ratsat, a 165-kilogram aluminum mass simulator built in-house. Staging was delayed so residual thrust could decay. Nine and a half minutes after liftoff, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach Earth orbit.

Why It Matters

The success of Flight 4 unlocked NASA's Commercial Resupply Services award later that year. Without it, SpaceX's executives say there would have been no Falcon 9, no reusable first stages, and no Dragon cargo or crew flights to the International Space Station. The source material states launch prices would have remained far higher, Starlink's constellation would not exist, and broadband from low Earth orbit would still be a paper concept. Ride-share markets, high launch cadence, and current lunar and Mars hardware development would be years behind their present state.

The Bottom Line

SpaceX was nearly out of cash in late 2008, with another failure ending payroll and closing the Hawthorne factory. Musk confirmed that if Flight 4 had failed, SpaceX would not exist as a company. Falcon 1's fourth launch ultimately placed a mass simulator into a 621-by-643-kilometer orbit at 9.35 degrees inclination.