September 28, 2008 – The Falcon 1 rocket’s fourth launch was the first success for Space Exploration Technology Corp. (SpaceX), and marked the entrance of the first privately funded, liquid-fuelled launcher into the competitive launch services market. The brainchild of PayPal founder Elon Musk, the Falcon 1 rocket is designed to minimize price per launch for low-Earth-orbit satellites and is the precursor to the more powerful Falcon 9, which, if successful, will allow SpaceX to launch larger geostationary satellites and go head-to-head with the established launch services companies

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