 10 facts about SpaceX 1. SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Incorporated is a private space exploration business based in Hawthorne, California, founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. 2. SpaceX was the first commercially funded firm to transport a spacecraft, Dragon, to the International Space Station, ISS, in 2012, and the first privately funded corporation to carry humans to the ISS in 2020 NASA astronauts Bob Bankin and W. 3. SpaceX set a significant milestone in 2015 when it successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket vertically on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, paving the path for reusable rocket technology.