Elon Musk calls incident, “Just a scratch,” on X early Thursday morning. No injuries reported following explosion at Starbase facility in Texas. (Credit: LabPadre via Storyful)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday.
The window for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida opens at 12:09 p.m ET.
“The flight is the 11th crew rotation mission with SpaceX to station, and the 12th human spaceflight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program,” NASA said in a blog post.
“The Crew-11 cadre will fly aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft that previously flew NASA’s SpaceX Demo Mission-2, Crew-2, Crew-6, and Crew-8, in addition to Axiom Mission 1, the first private astronaut mission to the microgravity laboratory.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft sit on the pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission on June 11, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
SPACEX STARSHIP EXPLODES ON TEXAS LAUNCH SITE
Before NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov liftoff from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, here are five things to know about SpaceX.
1. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
When Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, its headquarters were in Hawthorne, California. Since then, the HQ for the aerospace and defense company has moved to Starbase in southern Texas. The company has 13,000 employees, and its revenue for 2024 was $8.7 billion, according to Forbes.
It is currently the largest private company valued at around $400 billion, per reports.
Musk’s believes the company can eventually make it to planet Mars.
He also has a rivalry with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns space company Blue Origin.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk walks on stage during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on August 25, 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The two companies announced plans to work together to provide T-Mobile cellular service using Starlink satellites. (Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images / Getty Images)
NASA SPACEX CREW-6 LAUNCH SCRUBBED AFTER LAST-MINUTE TECH ISSUE
2. Inside SpaceX
SpaceX prides itself on the work it has done in 23 years. The “space aviation company that designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft,” Global Data’s website says. Missions are launched from launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
As of Wednesday afternoon, SpaceX’s website says it has completed 521 missions, 482 landings and 448 reflights.
“While most rockets are designed to burn up on reentry, SpaceX rockets can not only withstand reentry but can also successfully land back on Earth and refly again,” it said.
Support teams work on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida. (Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images)
3. Starlink
Along with astronauts, SpaceX launches satellites into space, allowing communities and travelers worldwide to stay connected. The division of SpaceX “is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more,” its website says.
The technology has been picked up by travel businesses, such as United Airlines and Carnival Corporation, to provide reliable Wi-Fi to customers in the air and at sea.
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Following natural disasters, like Hurricane Milton in October 2024, Starlink kits have been activated to provide cell satellite service in partnership with phone carriers. Musk has also deployed the satellites over Ukraine amid its war with Russia.
Starlink internet is now available on all Carnival Corporation ships across the world. (Carnival Corporation / Fox News)
4. With success comes failure
Not all of SpaceX’s missions have been successful.
Last month, SpaceX’s Starship exploded, sending a massive fireball into the sky from Texas that was caught on several livestreams.
Falcon 9, the “reusable, two-stage rocket” that is being used for Thursday’s planned launch, suffered a “liquid oxygen leak” in July 2024, causing the Merlin Vacuum engine to experience an “anomaly,” resulting in a loss of satellites.
EntrepreneurShares COO Eva Ados weighs the benefits of owning SpaceX compared to Tesla on ‘Making Money.’
5. Trump, government subsidies and contracts
President Donald Trump attended a SpaceX launch last May. This was as he and Musk spent a significant amount of time at the White House while he was head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before a terse exit.
President Donald Trump waves goodbye to the crowd after attending a post launch gathering after NASA commercial crew astronauts Doug Hurley (L) and Bob Behnken blast off from historic Launch Complex 39A aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the crew D (Jonathan Newton/Washington Post via Getty Images)
Following a public fallout between Musk and Trump, a spotlight was shone on how much government funding Musk’s companies had received over the years.
Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump listen to a question from reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
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SpaceX, a crucial contractor for NASA and the Space Force, has received at least $1 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits each year since 2016, and between $2 billion and $4 billion a year from 2021 to 2024, as previously reported.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of 24 Starlink internet satellites soars into space after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 18, 2025, seen from Santee, California. (Kevin Carter / Getty Images)
FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
