
15. SpaceX Successfully Launches Spacecraft
SpaceX may have initially looked more like a chance for Musk to play with boyhood fantasies of building and launching rockets than a successful business venture. He even funded over half of the company by himself because there were simply no investors.
However, in 2006, NASA announced that it would be awarding SpaceX with a contract to develop a spacecraft that could resupply the International Space Station. SpaceX developed the Dragon, which launched successfully and orbited the earth before returning in 2010. In 2012, the Dragon successfully landed on the ISS and returned to earth.