This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “One Giant Leap for Space Travel.” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber.
Before Gmail, YouTube or Facebook, a starry-eyed rocket startup company announced a fantastical vision: a new age, where private companies send humans into space. And in May 2020, some 18 years after its founding, SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk, finally made good on that pledge.
