Founded with $100 million by PayPal and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk, Space Exploration Technologies (more commonly "SpaceX") has grown from its initial investment size in 2002 to become a company with nearly 1,700 employees and an estimated market value of $1.3 billion dollars (an IPO is possible at the end of 2013).

SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch and return a spacecraft from orbit on December 8 2010, after its Dragon capsule returned from a two-orbit flight.

SpaceX has been specializing in rocket design and manufacture (the "Falcon" series) and capsule design and manufacture (the "Dragon" series). The company will have the first commercial resupply spaceflight to the International Space Station on May 19, 2012.

The company has a launch manifest on their website that gives a hint to the commercial viability to this industry. The US Air Force and NASA are already negotiating contracts with SpaceX.

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